Monday 19 May: Keir Starmer’s EU ‘reset’ is shaping up to be a capitulation

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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721 thoughts on “Monday 19 May: Keir Starmer’s EU ‘reset’ is shaping up to be a capitulation”

  2. Good Monday morning Geoff and all NoTTLers, two Chuckles for the price of one today:

    A couple were celebrating their golden wedding anniversary, but the husband had something on his mind.
    "There's something that's always bugged me about the children," he said. "I can't help noticing that out of our eight kids, Ben looks different from all the others. I know it's a terrible thing to ask, but does he have a different father?"
    The wife couldn't bear to look him in the eye. "Yes, it's true," she admitted. "Ben does have a different father from the other seven."
    The husband's heart sank. Fighting back the tears, he said: "You have to tell me. Who is Ben's father?"
    She looked at him sorrowfully and said: "You."

    A married man took a solo trip to Bermuda that was part work, part vacation. He fell so in love with the place that he wired his friend: "Catch next plane out. Bring my wife and your mistress."
    The friend wired back: "Your wife and I arriving tomorrow 4.30 p.m. How long have you known about us?"

    1. Good morning RC

      Glad you are awake and alert , and starting off with a few funnies!

      What do you think of this ?

      The age-old semicolon is dying out as Britons admit to never or rarely using the punctuation mark, a study has found.

      In 19th century English literature it appeared once in every 205 words, but today it is down to one in every 390 words.

      The survey found that 67 per cent of British students never or rarely used a semicolon and only 11 per cent of respondents described themselves as frequent users.

      The MailOnline style guide advises they are mainly used in lists (eg 'The band's unusual backstage requests included: only green M&Ms; waitresses dressed as Stormtroopers; and a retired astronaut'). The last item is preceded by a semicolon and has the word 'and' at the beginning.

      Lisa McLendon authored the research and wrote an entire book dedicated to the punctuation: Semicolon: How a Misunderstood Punctuation Mark Can Improve Your Writing, Enrich Your Reading and Even Change Your Life.

      https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14725645/semicolons-risk-dying-popular-punctuation-mark.html

      (I found two colons in your little offering , and I believe they are also a rarity )

      1. Morning Belle, you were the first to uptick my Giggles early this mornong.
        I guess you noticed that there were originally THREE, not TWO Giggles.
        I quickly deleted the middle one on the grounds that it might be thought antisemitic.
        And yes, I still have my copy of Mind the Stop (a Brief Guide to Punctuation) by G. V. Carey.
        As a pedant I love every little one of them: the colon, apostrophe, semicolon, dash – all have their precise usages.
        When I pop my clogs there will be one less fewer grammar and punctuation-lover.

        I actually have two copies of Mind The Stop: the earlier (1976) copy has this title on its front cover:
        (M.I,N'D* – T:H;E! ?S.T"O"P)

        1. When I was working on the Shetland Gas Project, about 2013, we were given internet connections in our accommodation. The girl on reception read my login out for me to note. It included something she called a "double dot".
          I asked what this was and she wrote down what I call a colon! "That's a colon" I exclaimed.
          "Isn't that something up your bum?" she replied.

          1. I once travelled to Argentina with a chum who had been a nurses in her days. Together, we went to a concert at the famous Colón theatre in Buenos Aires. She was mystified as to why anyone would name a theatre after a colon, not realising that it was really named after Cristóbal Colón, (the Spanish for Christopher Columbus).

      2. Morning Belle, you were the first to uptick my Giggles early this mornong.
        I guess you noticed that there were originally THREE, not TWO Giggles.
        I quickly deleted the middle one on the grounds that it might be thought antisemitic.
        And yes, I still have my copy of Mind the Stop (a Brief Guide to Punctuation) by G. V. Carey.
        As a pedant I love every little one of them: the colon, apostrophe, semicolon, dash – all have their precise usages.
        When I pop my clogs there will be one less fewer grammar and punctuation-lover.

      3. Morning Belle, you were the first to uptick my Giggles early this mornong.
        I guess you noticed that there were originally THREE, not TWO Giggles.
        I quickly deleted the middle one on the grounds that it might be thought antisemitic.
        And yes, I still have my copy of Mind the Stop (a Brief Guide to Punctuation) by G. V. Carey.
        As a pedant I love every little one of them: the colon, apostrophe, semicolon, dash – all have their precise usages.
        When I pop my clogs there will be one less fewer grammar and punctuation-lover.

        1. Some of us younger types do, too. Often joke with t'lads over poor punctuation created by a wordsmith, about what does it actually mean contra what they thought they meant.

      7. When I was at school in the 1960s, I was taught that semicolns were practically obsolete.

        These days I use them partly as Fowler intended: to separate two linked complete sentences; often a full stop loses a connection.

        In lists, the correct separation is with commas, but semicolons can be used to establish a heirachy in a list. When I write of senses such as colours: red, white, blue; tastes: salty, sweet, sour; smells: fragrant, foul, doggy; I use the semicolon and commas to establish order.

        1. JM: A a Pedant writes: When I was at school in the 40s and 50s I learned how to spell semicolOn and hIEraRchy.

          EU Negotiations
          Completely off the above topic: ten minutes ago on Today (Radio 4) an interviewer tried several times to pin down the current EU Policy Chief (Kaja Kallas from Estonia) to say what bargaining items were given up by the EU negotiators during discussions that led to the announcements due this morning. She (Kaja) pivoted every time and clearly declined to answer that question. We may see later today if ANY negotiating points were given up by the EU.

          See what I did there: three colons in one post!

    1. Bon, Mademoiselle Minty. Coment Allez Oops allez vous aujord hui?

      PS – Of course, I meant to write "Bon jour".

      1. Dear Elsie, a Pedant writes (again): I thought there was an apostrophe between aujOurd and hui – thus: aujourd'hui.

        Enough nit-picking; I'm off to do some more productive work, i.e. watering the poor plants after a weekend away.

  6. The fact that we have to keep going back to renegotiate the EU withdrawal agreement after all these years is proof enough that we never really left.

    1. 405748+up ticks,

      Morning JN,
      I do beg to differ somewhat,the political TOOL is anything but weak,he is strong and dedicated in the ways of treachery and currently ploughing a successful anti Brit furrow through politics as witnessed.

  9. 405748+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Once again, as usual, we are investing trust in what I do see as
    "paper tigers" in the shape of reform, WITH NO SAFETY NET.

    No serious attempt at supporting a second party for /if/when
    reform goes tits up.

    TRY listen to common sense then assess what your own eyes are witnessing in the shape of formations of spraying aircraft.

    An ALL round beneficial anti treachery, fall back,already with
    time served ( multi,multi,decades of patriotic vested interest in the home turf, party,trusted to carry the same amount of eggs
    as seemingly reform are being trusted with.

    farmers food and freedom ltd – Companies House – GOV.UK

    GOV.UK
    https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk › …
    Registered office address: Bower Farm Bower Farm, Stelling Minnis, Canterbury, Kent, United Kingdom, CT4 6BB. Company status: Active.

    https://x.com/BGatesIsaPyscho/status/1924134345897332852

  10. Morning, all Y'all.
    Beautiful day, promised to be the warmest yet in 2025 (not difficult, that).
    Horrible news story today: a farmer's farm went on fire as he was away spreading shit. By the time the fire brigade arrived, and neighbours, the whole farm was alight apart from the hen house that the neighbours managed to save. 150 head of cattle killed, as they were in the cattle sheds. Utter disaster, the poor man also lost his house, as the buildings were all quite close.

      1. Investigation starts today.
        The place is so dry just now that any fire starting is bad news, and spreads like, well, wildfire.

    2. I think fire is the scariest of all catastrophes.

      When a big fire gets in the news, there is always the rather sanctimonious statement that the human casualties are all that really matters, as if this rubbishes the grief felt by the loss of everything else, that is not human.

      A few days ago, an important museum for historic vehicles was destroyed, along with its many treasures, including the last cinema bus that was once featured in a show by George Clarke. Yet even the historic car sites dwelt on the three people killed in the inferno, with no concern for all that motoring heritage lost.

      When Aardman's studios went up, Peter Lord was more concerned with the human disaster in Pakistan than the loss of all his equipment and props that made Wallace & Gromit.

      Universal Studios centralised their archive and backups containing most of the classic jazz recordings of the 20th century onto a building which burnt down in 2008.

      There was the national museum in Brazil which burnt down, losing most of the archive material for the Amazon tribes, many of whom since wiped out by settlers, and the loss by fire of the National Library in Bucharest, which took out much of Romanian cultural heritage.

      As for the Cradle of Civilisation in the Middle East, how much of that has survived this century?

      There was House of Reeves, housed in one of the few buildings in Croydon that survived the Blitz, which was burned down by Black Rights rioters in 2011.

      There are plenty of other examples which we may well grieve, and the aftermath of this loss extends long after the funerals of mortal humans.

      I do hope that this farmer can grieve and then rebuild, so that his loss is not permanent.

      1. Many people think that farmers are cruel bastards towards their livestock, but that’s not true. Buildings can be rebuilt, memories are lost, but the poor beasts died in fear and pain, in a fire. The farmer will be crushed.

        1. There is a pig farmer in the next village who came within yards of being wiped out by Foot & Mouth. They produce some wonderful bacon and sausages. In the parish magazine, the ad goes "our pigs have a short life, but a happy one".

          1. In our small community an old crofter left an electric heater on in his barn which housed 5 cows – the barn burnt down, none of the cows survived (inc one new born calf), he is devastated, he treated his cattle like family

          2. Worst day of my life was the slaughter of Firstborn's two pigs. Despite best efforts, we found them to be engaging and amusing creatures, so to use the captive bolt gun and then cut their throats was hideous beyond belief.
            Feckin' good bacon, though.

      2. Morning Jeremy

        I see that No_Mow May is getting off to a crackling dry start .

        Once again the verges, the pathways , roundabouts and public areas are looking untidy and dry , and not a butterfly or earwig in sight !

        The unkempt verges are shielding empty cans, bottles, sweet wrappers and lots of other detritus ..

        What to do, eh?

        1. It is good conservation practice to leave off mowing wildflower meadows until after the annuals have seeded in July. Yet, these have to be established first. The problem lies when the soil is too fertile and the rank weeds crowd out the flowers. There needs to be a regime of mowing and taking away what is collected in order to deplete the soil fertility, and allow slow-growing flowers to take over in their own time. Pasture land does this by converting this excess into livestock, and sheep are particularly beneficial as walking mowers. A meadow comprising slow-growing grasses and wildflowers is particularly lovely, and may look tidy and still only need to be topped off and the dead material taken off in March, mowed in July and once more at the end of the growing season, and no more.

          As for litter, there is a strong case for those with time on their hands to contribute to the well-being of their communities by wandering around with a litter picker and a bin liner.

          1. Jeremy, may I apologise for my earlier, snarky knee-jerk comments on the your spelling of 'semilcoln' and 'heirachy'. I have come to enjoy your regular erudite posts (like those today) as impeccable, both grammatically and typographically.

            None of us is perfect. Hmm – just checked with Fowler (Modern English Usage), who says 'It is a mistake to suppose that the pronoun [none] is singular only and must at all costs be followed by singular verbs &c'. So it is equally valid to to say 'None of us IS perfect' or 'None of us ARE perfect'.

            Just checking and realised that Fowler published his treatise in 1926 – 99 years ago – so who is now to say that it is MODERN usage?

            Enough said. RC.

          2. No worries. I am cursed, as are all of us by Disqus’s wretched new text editor that shuffles the letters as I type. In the end, it fries the brain and even the pedant starts to miss the typos.

            Is ‘none’ singular or plural? Stephen Hawking may have had something to say about the singularity of zero! Any mathematician can tell you that when you divide zero by zero, the number you get can be anything you like.

            As regards ‘Modern’, I was young once. Do I retain the “young man” status throughout life though (my mother, who only died recently aged 99, insisted that 69 was young!)? [note the nested punctuation, which I often adopt.]

            In days gone by, you had cars, and you had veteran cars that qualified for the London to Brighton rally. Then, there were cars, veteran cars and vintage cars, which did not, but were still antiquated. Then even these turned out to be antiquated, so ‘classic cars’ came into being. Now we have the absurdity of a Ford Mondeo being a “classic car”, so there is yet another category – the ‘historic vehicle’ (one more than forty years old). Which one is modern?

          4. There is a strong case for making littering unacceptable. Certain cultures don’t care though. I know. I see it in Richmond Park.

            Tomorrow is bin collection day and all the black bin bags left out overnight will have been ripped open by urban vermin looking for food. It is always joyous to cycle to work through the disgusting crap. Week after week. No-one appears to care, certainly not enough to stop doing it.

          5. That’s progress for you. Before black bin liners were invented, there were dustbins made of galvanised steel. If vermin was a problem, then put a brick on the lid.

          6. We do.😇 To the extent that the chair of the parish council claimed that "we do not have a litter problem in our village." I was happy to inform her that was because we picked it all up.

  11. New ‘Home Guard’ to protect UK from attacks
    Volunteer-led unit will be created to protect vital infrastructure from foreign threats as part of an extensive defence review

    708

    Gift this article free
    Tony Diver
    Associate Political Editor
    18 May 2025 11:42am BST
    A new Second World War-style “Home Guard” will protect Britain’s key infrastructure from foreign threats and terror attacks, under government plans.

    A major defence review is expected to recommend that power plants, airports and telecoms hubs are defended by thousands of volunteers.

    The new unit will be modelled on the Home Guard of the 1940s, which was formed of men too old or young to serve in the military. Their task was to defend Britain against the Nazis in case of a land invasion.

    The new service is a central part of Labour’s strategic defence review (SDR), the Sunday Times reported, and will seek to soothe Government concerns about the vulnerability of Britain’s critical national infrastructure.

    The Telegraph previously revealed that the Cabinet Office is drawing up contingency plans for a direct Russian attack on the UK, after it was discovered that an existing plan had not been updated for 20 years.

    Officials fear that in case of a war with a hostile foreign state, Britain could be brought to its knees within weeks through attacks on power plants, transport sites, undersea cables and airports.

    The Home Guard would be drawn from volunteers, and would see local hubs established around the country. The same system was famously satirised in the BBC comedy series Dad’s Army.

    Advertisement

    A number of countries including Denmark, Germany and Sweden still operate a form of Home Guard.

    Britain’s plans are reportedly at an early stage, although some of the unit’s volunteer troops may work with the Civil Nuclear Constabulary, which protects nuclear power plants.

    Labour’s SDR is the Government’s first big reset of defence policy since last year’s election. It is expected to set out the threats the UK faces and the capability that may be required to meet them.

    John Healey, the Defence Secretary, is thought to have made the case for higher troop numbers, after staffing in the armed services fell to a historic low.

    Address cyber and drone warfare
    It will also address threats that have become more significant since the Conservative government’s review in 2023, such as the rise in cyber and drone warfare amongst Britain’s adversaries.

    Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to bring defence spending to at least 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2027, although other Nato allies have gone further.

    At a Nato summit in the Netherlands next month, Donald Trump is expected to make the case for even higher spending, possibly up to five per cent of GDP.

    A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: “We will not be drawn into commenting on claims regarding the Strategic Defence Review ahead of publication.

    ”The UK’s Strategic Defence Review sets out a path for the next decade to transform the armed forces to ensure we’re prepared for emerging threats – making Britain secure at home and strong abroad while transforming defence to drive innovation and economic growth as part of our Plan for Change.

    “We have also announced the biggest sustained increase in defence spending since the end of the Cold War, boosting funding to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2027, an increase of £13.4 billion in cash terms, with an ambition to reach three per cent in the next parliament.”

    Comments yes, enjoyable but serious


    Grenville Gifford
    just now
    The Local Defence Volunteers units were formed in 1940 as an act of desparation with the prospect of imminent invasion across the English Channel very real. Whether what became the "Home Guard" could have been effective against that invasion is highly questionable.

    This measure suggests the UK government again feels a sense of desparation and anxious to he seen to be doing something.

    Churchill declared that "we will fight them on the beaches, on the landing grounds". Sir Keir Starmer has repeated Enoch Powell's words on immigration ("island of strangers"). Will Capt Mainwaring's platoon really be deployed to Folkstone to repel the RNLI boat bringing in the nextwave of undocumented arrivals ashore?

    Comment by Piers Lawson-Brown.

    PL

    Piers Lawson-Brown
    16 min ago
    So we cannot get enough volunteers to join the regular army for a wage, so let's get thousands of volunteers to join up for free? Honestly what planet are these Muppets on?

    Comment by Paula Brown.

    PB

    Paula Brown
    19 min ago
    still have not been told what started the fire at Heathrow substation

    Comment by Jan Bronski.

    JB

    Jan Bronski
    24 min ago
    Gary Lineker has got some time free now

    Comment by Alex Charles.

    AC

    Alex Charles
    37 min ago
    So, leave the borders wide open and then get volunteers to defend the targets which have been opened up by lack of border control?

    Comment by Andrew Logan.

    AL

    Andrew Logan
    1 hr ago
    "…power plants, airports and telecoms hubs are defended by thousands of volunteers."

    So what this fickle Government is saying is that they want to add another tier of security without having to pay for it. I'd be very surprised if they find many 'volunteers', if any at all.

    Comment by Perseus Slade.

    PS

    Perseus Slade
    1 hr ago
    Will there be a loyalty requirement, or DEI ?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/05/18/new-home-guard-protect-uk-from-attacks/

    (Remember the stroppy Covid Marshalls )

    1. So, how would it work? Giving lightly-trained people firearms, to stand around in the streets and protect the electrical power grid from cyber attack? Hmm, that'll go well. Could mobilise all the Sons of Allah, they know how to use a knife and a cock!

    2. New ‘Home Guard’ to protect UK from attacks.

      Morning Belle. Another fantasy.

    3. Pity very few politicians didn’t heed some of Enoch Powell’s other words!

    4. Piers Lawson-Brown's doubts do not seem to recognise that many Home Guard members were veterans from WW1, hardly the good-natured amateurs of Dad's Army.

  12. Foreign criminals to be deported as soon as they are convicted. 19 May 2025.

    Foreign offenders jailed for crimes in the UK will be deported as soon as they are convicted in a bid to tackle prison overcrowding.

    Burglars, drug dealers and offenders convicted of assault who have been sentenced to under three years in prison will be removed from the UK as “soon as operationally possible” rather than serve their time in Britain as is currently the case.

    I assume that no Nottler believes this nonsense? It is just another of those fabrications that the PTB throw out to keep the peasants occupied. The rate of political lying must now be the greatest ever. The only possible rival could be the old USSR where, as in the present day UK, it was sponsored by Government Agencies. There is almost nothing in the MSM that one can believe.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/05/19/deportation-for-foreign-criminals-as-soon-they-conviction/#comment

    1. BB Barrister had a vid yesterday detailing the case of an Iranian who had come here in 2004, served a 1 year prison sentence, had his claim for asylum rejected and had a deportation order confirmed in 2008. He is still here after numerous legal procedures, all which were rejected, claiming now that he plays with his child and cuts his hair. The system is completely broken.

  14. Good morning, chums. And thanks, Geoff, for today's new NoTTLe site.

    Wordle 1,430 5/6

    ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
    ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
    ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜
    🟩🟩⬜🟩🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  15. I think the public atttude to the Labour Government and its plans to hand over British fishing waters to continental business interests in return for trade concessions for the likes of Lidl and Aldi, and other foreign-owned outfits eager to exploit the British market (is not the British car industry Indian and Chinese these days?), is best summed up by the recent County elections. Labour secured two county councillors; the Greens eight. The Tories were wiped out in the City of Worcester, and every market town except Bewdley and Droitwich. The big winner was Reform, but it seems that most of them never wanted to be councillors, and that group is already fighting like rats in a sack as the Habib Party face up to the Yussuf Party for the right to be called British.

    I had thought that, following a public decision I was involved with in 2016, that Britain could be in a position to conserve its fish stocks by now. When it came to the vote though, Starmer was quite content to let the HS2 contractors bulldoze the Regents Park hedgehog sanctuary in his own constituency, so why should he have any concern about the conservation of life in our coastal waters?

    No wonder they are keen to facilitate my assisted dying – best thing for the fed up!

    1. Eric doesn't hold back..

      Eric Worsthorne
      @EricWorsthorne
      ·
      14h
      Ireland can go fuck themselves – I hope that they enjoy the shitshow they've created and perhaps learn a lesson after the amount of abuse, threats and blackmail they tried over Brexit.

    2. I think many In Ireland are now up to speed with what I tried to explain.
      Looking at many videos, I'd say The Irish have reached their tipping point
      I've always said The Irish won't put up with it like we do.
      They'll fight harder and sooner. I wish them well

      And just where do you think the gimmegrants end up?

    1. We must never forget that all cultures are equally valid in our multi-cultural world.#

      (But we must also remember that one particular culture is more valid than others are.)

  19. The quirks of one much-loved ginger cat. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3475feacb6ec6b2389c6e37a287cdb5a277493b3e59eb54e93be3539b30ffa30.png
    SIR – I was interested to read your report (May 16), “What makes most ginger cats male – and friendlier than the female.”

    About 40 years ago, a young female ginger cat arrived in our garden, and would not leave. Attempts to find the owner (notices on lamp posts and at the vet) were unsuccessful. But the cat successfully adopted me. Over 13 years she would spend every evening on my lap – though never once on my wife’s, even though she was the provider of daily food. When people visited, too, she would always find a male rather than female lap to sit on.

    She is still sorely missed.

    David Vezey
    Shenley, Hertfordshire
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1e1215551137ae8a43ccb36a914ca1b89b97faf132db2b32ffc4fdd2ab5cb54d.png
    Findus has discovered another ruse to get my attention if I ignore him. He jumps up onto my desk, as I attempt to read the online DT, and lies with his feet across the keyboard typing gobbledegook on the screen, while purring his heart out. I have to move my (wireless) keyboard out of the way. On Saturday I left him there asleep while I went downstairs to mash a pot of tea. When I returned he had decided to drop down onto my much more comfortable office chair to continue his nap.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9b8b2437b81eb9255f8d408a1bcd66a805021b467ab653713d5d6be467a91828.png

    1. Morning Grizz, my ginger whinger often spends the night on my office chair (see above)

      1. Morning, Spikey.

        Its nice to sit down and get a warm bum after they leave.🐈🤣

    3. They are very good chair thieves. G and/or P will see me get up to put a log on the fire and immediately seize the seat!

    5. Aah; so it's Findus who's been typing gobbledegook, eh? Riiiight – we believe you… 😉 x

  20. Morning All 🙂😊
    Grey no wind, looks like rain but…..we'll see.
    If someone soon or a group does not get rid of starmer the wrecker of everything he comes into contact with. This country and nation known as the British Isles is finished. It simply can not be allowed to happen. He cannotbe allowed to get away with it. Those who are capable need to come to the fore and do it. ASAP.

    1. KFC is constitutionally obliged to do something (like QE II was when we joined the EEC) but he won't. Like she didn't.

      1. What's Kentucky Fried Chicken got to do with it, Hertslass? Lol. (But you're right about QE II.)

      2. What's Kentucky Fried Chicken got to do with it, Hertslass? Lol. (But you're right about QE II.)

    2. Sounds like a classic cry of "Follow me. I'm right behind you." Redders.

  22. Good Morning!

    Governments around the world are itching to introduce Central Bank Digital Currencies – which is bad news for your freedom and financial sovereignty. Please read Tell Them To Stick Their Digits Where The Sun Don't Shine on the perils involved, and let us know what you think by leaving a comment and taking our poll.

    2030 is set – or is it reset – to be a big year. As most know, 'They' have plans for us. But what if their plan is not centered on global warming, but global cooling? Iain Hunter thinks it might be, as 2030 is when a solar minimum and consequent cooling is due. Read his important and interesting The Grand Solar Minimum Revisited – A Realisation and let us know if you agree with his thinking.

    Energy Watch: Over the last 24 hours: Britain's electric power was sourced from Gas, 22.1%; Solar, 10.3%: Wind 22%; Imports, 18.4%; Biomass, 5.2% and Nuclear, 29.9%.

    freespeechbacklash.com

        1. Perhaps the notion of putting them in a cage together and throwing away the key can address that.

  25. I've just seen a clip on FB filmed somewhere in Manchester of a large white van, not the driver or passenger's of course but dumping hpuse hold rubbish on a residential street and it looked like they didn't give a Shonet for the surrounding properties or the chap who filmed them.
    This unfortunately is what this and our previous government has done and allowed to happen to our country.
    Sorry it can't post a link.

    1. You think that's bad? Here is more evidence on the country becoming the third world.

      Speeding learner who fled after killing elderly woman in head-on crash is jailed

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9dcbcceb4f6583b6cc24d87f7c436b18c0d9f67a9166609dbb8336ab60be1cc1.png Footage shows Khizer Ali fleeing the scene of the fatal crash

      AN uninsured learner driver was filmed running away after killing a woman in a head-on crash.
      Khizer Ali, 24, crashed his mother’s car into Valerie Ayres, 65, and her 70-year-old husband David’s vehicle as the couple were driving to go shopping.

      Dashcam footage shows Ali speeding at 59mph in a 40mph zone moments before the fatal crash on the A441 in Redditch, Worcestershire, on April 23 last year. Mrs Ayres was killed instantly while her husband suffered life-changing injuries. Ali, from Redditch, admitted a string of offences, including causing death by dangerous driving, at Worcester Crown Court. He was jailed for 11 years and three months on Friday and banned from driving for 12-and-a-half years.

      The court heard Ali, who only held a provisional licence, had been driving his sister’s car but swapped to their mother’s VW Golf. The car was a Motability vehicle that only his mother and sister were insured to drive. His sister, Sanaa Shahzad, let him use the car while she attended an eyelash appointment.

      Ali lost control of the vehicle and veered onto the wrong side of the road, where he collided head-on with the Ayres’ Vauxhall Meriva. Footage then showed him running away from the scene. He was arrested at his home a short time later.
      Shahzad, 20, admitted two counts of causing or permitting the use of a vehicle without valid insurance or a licence. She will be sentenced next month.

      Det Con Rose Hughes, of West Mercia Police, said Ali “showed a total disregard for the safety of the public”.

      Gaoled? I think the firing squad is called for in these cases!

      1. "He was jailed for 11 years and three months on Friday and banned from driving for 12-and-a-half years."

        So he'll be banned from driving for just 15 months then? [Or seven years when they release him on 'good behaviour' after six years].

          1. He will be out because he is of immigrants extraction, in order to imprison another hurty tweeter. Starmer is mentally sick.

          1. They could cut off his head but then he wouldn't be able to see where he was going. Not that that would diminish his skill level.

      2. Our country has been completely wrecked by our useless political idiots. The whole lot of them should be arrested for their crimes.

        1. Why can’t we just impeach them like the Yanks do. They are failing the country they were elected to protect.

          1. Not enough room in our prisons. Of course they could let people like Lucy Connolly out (with payment of damages paid out of the pocket of 2TK) and deport the foreigners, then there would be room.

      3. It was interesting that nowhere in the article did the writer bother to mention he was driving unaccompanied (also not allowed for a learner driver).

  26. The BBC Nonce Factory. Welcome
    10h
    Excellent news as card shark Starmer single handedly goes about destroying the Marxist nonce party👍
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2be0e1619dc6e9aa09064ffa8e3acfb44534b4764b749f772039be01c4d645ab.png

    Anona Mause
    The BBC Nonce Factory. Welcome
    9h
    Its fascinating that a Prime Minister with a rating of -34 thinks he can pull a fast one like that 4 years from the election when possibly the greatest street politician this country has ever seen is his rival and is currently ahead of him and can get out the Eurosceptic playbook as the cheap European workers battle with cheap Philippino and South Asian workers for all our jobs.
    Quote as many polls as they like Remain including Labour had a 4 point lead going into the referendum vote and they lost. That was under the Tories. This time everyone will see it is Starmer and Labour that has betrayed the country.

    1. Jess the Grooming Gang Champion
      7m
      O/T rumours swirling that Labour are scrapping the pledge to give 16 and 17 year olds the vote as the boys in particular intend to vote Reform!

        1. They aren't foreign. They are typical Londoners according to the mayor of London. Just goes to show how many criminal British there are. Like Albanian rapists shove up the white rapist numbers.

  28. 405748+ up ticks,

    Then this proves that democracy is DEAD and we are suffering under a dictatorship,without a shadow of doubt.

    We are living in an era where a majority YES = NO and
    WRONG = RIGHT.

    Dt,

    Live Starmer surrenders access to British waters to EU for 12 years in ‘Brexit reset’

    The only reset that needs very serious attention is the treacherous mindset of this starmer chap and supporters who in reality should be "DOING" 12 years whilst awaiting GALLOWS construction.

    1. Don't need to listen to Starkey to know if Farage is fit to be PM. The answer is no. He is only out for his own ego. I find it quite amazing that people in general have failed to see through the man at this point. He cannot abide people more astute than him, cleverer than him or more charismatic than him. That sort of person will only use people weaker than him in government. Therefore a government formed by him will be as useless as the Conservatives or Labour. He is a fraud, a good actor but not a commander capable of running a country.

      1. Unfortunately he is still preferable to the other big players. I just hope that Rupert Lowe and Ben Habib manage to get something off the ground, but I fear that at this stage it will simply divide the non-left vote.

        1. I have the same hope. That Rupert and Ben start something up. I don't know if you saw my post the other day, but Ben has brought "Integrity" it's a party already in existence. You can join, I did, but there isn't much to see on the web site because it is being revamped.
          https://www.integrityparty.co.uk/

          1. Trouble is – the more small parties the greater the fragmentation of the patriot vote.

    2. Woops, kowloonboy sorry I didn't readunder and see yours. Oh well, Starkey is worth listening to.

      Apropos your name, I used to visit a rather good little drinking place in Kowloon called Ned Kelly's Last Stand, having taken the Star Ferry from Hong Kong Island (the MTR was embryonic in those days). As this is is some 45 years ago I doubt that it still exists. Ah, memories…

      1. Still open. I bet you had the bangers and mash. :@)

        Steve was there in 1979.

          3. PS The music wasn't head banging by any means – a small band with a pianist called Les, who did a pretty good take on Chris Barber's rendition of "Ice Cream".

      2. I joined the army to go to Hong Kong. They posted me to a unit that had just returned from there and was never going back. After 22 years service and being posted to and passing through 20+ countries I never did get to Hong Kong. Learnt some Chinese though!

  30. Starmer surrenders access to British waters to EU for 12 years in ‘Brexit reset’
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/05/19/politics-latest-news-brexit-starmer-uk-eu-summit/

    The biggest Brexit Betrayal of all was that of Johnson, Gove and Frost who capitulated to the EU over fishing rights and Northern Ireland.

    This showed from the very outset that under any pressure the UK would surrender and that is exactly what has happened : Sunak betrayed Northern Ireland.

    The new dimension added by Starmer is that he is happy to surrender even when no pressure is put upon him. Starmer has betrayed the fishermen for the sheer delight he takes in betraying people.

    1. 405748+ up ticks,

      Morning R,

      I find him to be strong willed in his actions and he is without doubt an asset to those that employ him covertly.

      Whilst we the indigenous, look on in grudging admiration,then look on some more, in grudging admiration.

      1. Yes, on the eve of the deal be signed both Boris Johnson and Michel Gove arrived in Brussels and Frost, who had hitherto held firm, capitulated.

        Frost was pathetically weak when he should have been strong.

        I wish he would now come clean and explain fully why he feebly gave in to Johnson and Gove and say just with what the odious pair threatened him in order to make him cave in.

  31. Labour's position on the conservation of British fisheries is treacherous and wrong. The Tories have no policy on it, and Reform's position is clear enough.

    What have the Liberal Democrats and the Greens to say about the conservation of British fisheries, given their stated support for the EU and its institutions? I think they must be asked.

      1. Farage, if he wins the next election, says he will revoke the deal. So it looks like we are stuck with it for the next 12 years.

        1. When the 12 years are up it will be extended to protect the livelihoods of fishermen. French fishermen.

  35. Another nil start and finished in three!
    Wordle 1,430 3/6

    ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
    🟨⬜⬜⬜🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  38. Good morning all. Quite cool here but bright.

    I see that what I was going to start the day off with people are already posting about, the disgusting behaviour of Starmer crawling to the EU. If anyone thinks that the will of the people counts in socialist Britain well, here we have a clear demonstration of contempt for the people and what they voted for. The king should speak up, but I'm not expecting much on that score. Read today that.

    "Britons feel disconnected from society, wary of other people and worried about community tensions, a major new poll has found.
    A survey of more than 13,000 British adults found 50% said they felt disconnected from society, while 44% said they sometimes felt like a “stranger” in their own country."

    Not surprising when we have a totally unrepresentative government in power that is not there because of the will of the people but because the people decided, foolishly, to protest unrepresentative government by voting negatively.

    2. …. The king should speak up, but I'm not expecting much on that score.

      I would not say that the idiot King is proving to be a disappointment as that would suggest that I expected him to be better. I didn't – he is every bit as disastrous as I knew he would be.

      When studying The Beatitudes in Scripture lessons at school we learnt that certain groups are blessed:

      Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
      Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
      Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
      Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
      Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
      Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
      Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
      Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
      Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

      We added a tenth beatitude to St Matthew's list which now has particular relevance to our current monarch

      Blessed are they who expecteth nothing for they shall not be disappointed.

    3. Arguably the will of the people 9 years ago was to leave the EU but almost all current opinion polls show a clear majority feeling that it was wrong to leave. Furthermore, almost two-thirds of Britons support a stronger relationship with the EU although that probably doesn’t mean a desire to actually rejoin it.

      1. Opinion polls are designed to tell you what to think, not to reveal your personal opinion.

        1. People decry opinion polls only when the poll findings disagree with their personal opinion.

          1. The polls reflect the questions that are asked. See Yes Minister for a worked example.

      2. I don't think that support is valid since the politicians failed to bring us Brexit proper. Instead they botched it, I think deliberately because they actually believed that people wouldn't vote for Brexit. Having done so the politicians set about destroying the will of the people and working toward an untenable situation all round that would, in the end, force us back into the EU. If you want proof of that, look at Northern Ireland. Our politicians did almost nothing to extract the province from the EU and over the last few years have never talked about it or done anything about it again. What Brexit demonstrated is that democracy by the people only works if it aligns with the will of the politicians who, far from being our representatives, have become our masters. And, in fact, we never left as the thousands of laws on the books from the EU demonstrate. All those laws that tangle us in that anti-democratic organization were supposed to be revoked, they never have been and are still operative.

        1. Any blame for the non-delivery of Brexit rests with Leave leaders who never thought that they would win and had no idea what to do when they did. Remainers have done exactly what the Leavers would do if the referendum went the other way – resist it by any legal means. Leavers were simply not properly prepared for victory and having achieved and then realised the magnitude of the task to deliver it have abandoned it for pastures new.

          1. I don’t think that’s accurate. Leavers weren’t in power. Those who were weren’t in fact leavers at all. Remember Cameron’s leaflet? “This is your decision we will implement what you decide “. Only if you vote for what we want is what he meant and so it turned out.

          2. It was obvious well before the referendum that, if they lost, remainers in power would do all they could to limit what would happen, just the same as if leavers lost they would do all they could to keep the issue alive. As the campaign to change the status quo, Leave had a special responsibility to weigh up all the factors and make promises that they could reasonably deliver. Leaders of Leave totally failed to do what any competent or responsible person should have done.

          3. The problem with Leave was that it fragmented, not least because the government had its own Leave campaign (and so other campaigns had to be put in place to ensure the message got out).

          4. Not true. No Brexit politicians held power. They were all Remainers and immediately set about fouling up the democratic vote because, as I said, none of them thought it would go through. That is why chinless wonder Cameron resigned as PM, he was not going to oversee the breakup and neither were the other Tories. The only reason there was a vote was because the government was forced into it by the popular will. The politicians themselves, for the most part, hated the idea. It was their retirement gravy train and their excuse to do nothing, abscond from responsibility as MPs.

          5. It’s irrelevant whether or not Brexit politicians held power, although the Cabinet held quite a few. The point is that Brexit involved winning the referendum and delivering the result, and delivering the result means overcoming obstacles. The obstacles were always there or predictable but arrogance, hubris and incompetence failed to take account of them. The failure of Brexit falls squarely on Brexit politicians who promised much and delivered little.

      3. “Almost all current opinion polls show a clear majority feeling that it was wrong to leave”.

        They may, simply because Brexit was never implemented in the first place.

        1. Certainly Brexit has not brought us the benefits that the leaders of the Leave campaign promised us.

  39. Frankly, that is what I expected, total removal from the EU and complete sovereignty from the EU. But like most, I suppose, I expected the politicians to obey the vote. How naive of me!

  43. Wotcher, NoTTLers!

    Will Keir Starmer be the last Labour prime minister?

    Dr David Starkey discusses Starmer's latest speech on immigration in which he echoed the words of Enoch Powell, stating that Britain is becoming an island of strangers. The historian answers whether Nigel Farage would make a good prime minister, and savages the Conservative Party for their legacy on immigration. Starkey takes aim at the British establishment, identity politics, and the erosion of national confidence. He argues that Britain’s elites have abandoned their own history and traditions, leaving a cultural vacuum filled with guilt and self-hatred. From the legacy of Empire to the rise of woke ideology, Starkey offers a fiercely intellectual defence of Britain’s past — and a warning for its future.

    https://youtu.be/7SnV4ierEaY?si=jA3TZCp0idpaRJNI

    1. I listened to some of this earlier: Starkey – excellent as always.

      Starmer may well be the last Labour prime minister – perhaps he realises this which is why he is as determined as possible to inflict as much damage on Britain as he can while he still can do so.

      1. I doubt if he does realise that he could/should be the last Labour PM. I have never heard him talk with the vision of an historian; merely as an automaton backroom apparatchik from a downscale branch of HR/Immigration law. He has never argued a case in front of a jury. Horace Rumpole would make mincemeat of him with room for 'afters'. Any vision or ambition he has is to embed as many odds and ends of the Marxist/Trotskyist/Maoist dogma that he and his 'Top Team' cohort can remember from their student days. He got as far as… Leeds University (yawn); I still don't believe that Reeves got a genuine 'clean bill of health' from New College, Oxford, although anyone could have picked up her LSE degree. I have worked closely with the Bank of England – I don't believe her story. Philipson's back-story is rapidly unravelling. And then there's Lammy the Larf!

        However, Blair and Cherie may have the vision to see that this will be Labour's last government if Starmer stays at the helm. But there's no one on the bench.

    1. He should practice on politicians and illegal immigrants first – and Gary Lineker of course.

  45. Legendary piece of staecraft there..

    Four year extension work for you?
    Silence..
    Six?
    Eight?
    Another line..
    Ten?
    Wrap is empty.
    Twelve it is.

  46. When French fishermen don't get what they want they block the ports!

    We seem to be hearing rather less from our farmers at the moment but have our British fishermen the determination to make a concerted effort to block Falmouth, Plymouth, Weymouth. Poole, Southampton, Portsmouth, Dover and all other trading and ferry ports on the South coast of England?

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3e10ec482d792dba1d42b0adc7e3271496c8225d8e8012b3d22c2a46404914de.png

      1. In which case they must up the ante until the MSM does take notice.

          1. That's only if they get within a mile of the truth anyway. Most MSM go a very long distance to circumvent anything like the truth.

      2. As they didn't report the reasons for the arrests in the starmer homes and car problems.

  47. Starmer 1940:

    "I am delighted to welcome Herr Hitler and pleased that he has agreed to take over the government in Britain – without a shot being fired..

    All Jewish people are already being rounded up….."

    1. If Jewish people had any sense they would be leaving the UK already. And that includes me. My grandmother was Jewish. Though non-practicing.

      1. I believe my maternal GM was also faintly Jewish, I heard she was actually born in New York her parents had emigrated. Her Maiden name was Eastman, with suggested a changed from the original.
        A lovely old lady always made us welcome. She was from Barnet back then and married a young man from Hendon whose father originally came from Kimpton Herts.

    2. Norfolk Police are currently en route mob-handed to Fulmodeston.

      Hide your Brexity books!

      2. On the very rare occasions we see a perlice car in the village, we assume the driver is lost.

  48. Let us pray that evil presence who has undone so much good work , has a shortened life , and let us all hope that his acolytates and partners in crime trip up nastily !

    1. His voter base love him for such gestures.

      Like him, they hate Britain and all it once stood for.

    2. 405748+up ticks,

      Morning TB,

      A week is a long time for the electorate to hold an issue in their minds, the voting pattern proves that,time & time again.

    3. That was the day the UK Labour Party finally died in my eyes. There was no coming back from that. The autopsy of Mr Floyd had yet to be published. The autopsy runs against the narrative that the Race Marxist BLM and the like were hawking. An evidenced based motivation of racism Flyod's death was not established at that point nor was it in the trial of the police officers. This as played out to the backdrop of US working class small business owners watching their shops get looted and burnt.

      1. Chauvin should never have been jailed. He was following procedure apprehending a violent drugged up criminal.

        He was sacrificed on the altar of social cohesion. And look how that turned out. Any excuse for a riot.

        Trump should pardon him.

        1. Disaster capitalism, contempt for blacks (here's your new idol, an unemployed drug addict) and destruction of white culture, more like.

          1. Now if they idolised someone like Thomas Sowell, I could empathise. But to idolise unemployed addicted criminals – that's about the level some seem to be at. And for civilised people to KNEEL to that is simply unspeakable.

          2. Arguably, once you kneel to commemorate a vicious drug dealer, you are no longer civilised.

          3. It’s utter contempt for black people, wrapped up as supporting them. Statues of Floyd are just sickening – especially when there are none of Thomas Sowell, Clarence Thomas or Ben Carson, to name three great living black Americans.

          4. IMO it is contempt for white people – putting up statues for trash like that.

    4. That was the day the UK Labour Party finally died in my eyes. There was no coming back from that. The autopsy of Mr Floyd had yet to be published. The autopsy runs against the narrative that the Race Marxist BLM and the like were hawking. An evidenced based motivation of racism Flyod's death was not established at that point nor was it in the trial of the police officers. This as played out to the backdrop of US working class small business owners watching their shops get looted and burnt.

    2. Cats/dogs…all mine have loved a cardboard box, nice and warm……children seem to like them too..

      1. I do too! I got teased yesterday by a homeless bloke for dragging along yet another empty flat-screen TV box. 🤣🤣 (I use the big expanses of cardboard for painting.)

        2. Oh I think you mentioned that before…! A box lady, good for you:-) is it oils, acrylic, charcoal etc..mixed medium? I’ve been trying to do more drawing recently, can be picked up and put down easily and quickly, but I can’t focus, mind’s on dog who is warm, comfortable, sleeping at present.

          1. I cut them to whatever size they want (depends on whether they’ve been bent or bashed), slap a couple of coats of whitish acrylic on, then do whatever takes my fancy. At the moment, lots of acrylics. I seem to need the colour orange around, for some reason, which is interesting.

            Still working to rescue my big skyscape from the nasty white residue of spray varnish. Never going to get the luminosity back, so it’s going slowly.

            Your dog is far more important. He will be able to feel your loving energy, and sleep comfortably x

          2. Ha..must try it. Acrylics are different now, slower drying, water mixable etc. I started out using oils, with a palette knife, a lot of fun but now beyond my budget. Then watercolours – I would paint a ground of Zinc White which as I painted, lots of mistakes I could ‘erase’ with water/kitchen roll. Then, 2020 and lockdowns, supplies a bit haywire, moved to gouache and a paper made from old tshirts or similar (Khadi), more illustration style. Now, back to basics, trying to find time for drawing having seen Claire Milligan on YouTube. Orange is a cheerful, positive colour – perhaps reflecting your outlook on life? (dog is sleeping more or less the whole time now, thanks xx)

  54. Doctor: Joe… you've been diagnosed with Alzheimer's and cancer.
    Biden: Could be worse…at least I haven't got cancer..where's that kid I was sniffing…am I still president ?

  56. 405748+up ticks,

    You've gotta hand it to them the lab/lib/con mass
    uncontrolled, party controlled illegal invasion, mass paedophile
    umbrella holders coalition,fully supported, these last three plus decades have led ALL the way.

    Stars of treachery,

    The cottaging freak from the park bog anthony, charlie lynton, the
    polished turdthe wretch cameron, treacherous treasa, make johnson pm he makes us laugh,and now the the top eu asset ttk
    ( The TOOL).

    Dt,

    Live Starmer surrenders access to British waters to EU for 12 years in ‘Brexit reset’

    That 12 year on freedom day, must be served by TOOL & KIT
    prior to the hangings.

  57. First bit of gardening completed – ladder work to cut back two of the three wisterias. Next tranche after lunch.

    1. I was unduly pessimistic about my wisteria. It didn’t die after all. It now has a few green shoots on it. Still looks like a stick though.

  58. Are we so broke that we are selling our depleted fish stocks for a mess of potage to Europe ?

    Have you spotted a shorted of tinned pilchards .. favourites of ours , delicious on toast..

    There is a huge pilchard shortage according to my SA Sisters , used to be a staple food of the Blacks , everywhere .

    We are going to end up with huge shortages of North sea fish and shellfish , just wait and see .

    2. I think the coastal waters are a shade warmer recent years. Also the salmon fisheries, the salmon get lice so chemicals added to their cages which seeps out to some degree.

    3. The Sub-Saharan Africans can always go back to chop-chop. These days it's fashionable to pretend the expression doesn't mean what Africans know perfectly well it means so Google is in De Nile.

    4. We are not selling, Starmer is giving, and getting thrown a mess of pottage for his kindness.

  59. Starmer surrenders EU access to British fishing waters for 12 years. 19 May 2025.

    Sir Keir Starmer has given European fishermen access to British waters for 12 years to land his Brexit reset deal.

    British and European negotiators have reached a “fish for food” deal granting EU fishermen rights until 2038 in return for an agreement to boost trade.

    The two sides have also struck deals on a defence pact and youth mobility, while Britain has agreed to align with EU plant and animal health laws and to be subject to European Court of Justice decisions over them.

    How I loathe these people. If Vlad were to invade tomorrow I would be cheering from the sidelines.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/05/19/fishing-waters-european-union-keir-starmer-brexit-reset/

      1. The prices were bad enough before but this will make it worse.

        Fish from our waters landed here then sent off to Rungis south of Paris where it would be sold cheaper than i can buy it here.

        I know there is an argument that the Brits eat mostly cod and haddock but all the other stuff was caught in our waters and our fisheries had the right to sell it for the best price they could get.

        This will be the nail in the coffin for yet another home industry.

        The EU destroyed the Grimsby fishing industry and now a once bustling town is full of unemployed drug addicts and prostitutes and slums.

        1. I can remember going to french markets decades ago and seeing hundreds of undersize fish for sale.

          1. It is still going on.

            The stall holders kicked up a massive fuss recently because they are supposed to give the latin names on the fish. They obviously prefer labeling a cheaper fish as a more expensive one. But that's markets for you.

    3. (I may have already told you this, sorry if so)…husband follows a Canadian family who've emigrated to Russia, bought a farm there, and enjoying their new life very much. I think at least the father learned quite a bit of Russian before the move.

    4. President Putin has done some wicked things, but if it weren't for the USSR the Allies would never have defeated Germany in WWII.
      (oil, resources, unlimited territory in the East, out of range).

      1. They were not fighting for the British, neither were the Yanks. They only joined the fight because the Krauts attacked them first. They would have been quite happy to see the British Empire disbanded. They got their wish afterwards.

        1. Complex.
          Germany attacking was ultimately their worst mistake, but the Russians would in all probability not have survived, let alone won it without US and UK/British Empire support.
          Both Russia and America were delighted that the British Empire would dissipate.

    1. I had forgotten what a pretentious, self-satisfied plonker Jonathan Miller was.

  61. 405748+up ticks,

    Dt,

    Live Starmer’s EU deal spells end for UK fishing, says Farage

    Nigel Farage warned Sir Keir Starmer’s Brexit “reset” deal with the European Union would be the end of the British fishing industry.

    A rhetorical warning from " nige" is Not to be taken lightly,go in fear of his past pedigree, there's a whole herd of three legged donkeys in the donkey sanctuary

    1. Does Starmer actually give a toss about British farmers or British fishermen? The truth is that Starmer does not give a toss about the welfare of Britain and its people.

      Are we already in the metaphorical pressure cooker – something is going to have to give sooner rather than later.

      1. Bit rude.

        Why should Starmer give a toss when he's got a rent boy to do it for him?

        2. Bring forth the day when the scurrilous rumours about Starmer and his foreign secretary are proven not to be just rumours but the truth!

  62. There are times when I think Starmer is an utter Bell end.

    If he and his wreckers carry on in this vein a modern Ingham might be aroused sufficiently to leap in before the end.

      1. It was supposed to be a subtle dig.
        Look up Bellingham and a certain Mr Perceval.
        Ingham between Bell and end.

    2. What the heck are our judges – well they are all Blair -conditioned placements. Just as he intended.

    3. Oh well that’s ok then. You are 19, you deserve a house.

      1. And with a name like hers she is not a horrible whitey – so of course she gets off.

    4. Daniella Something-Adu. Sure thing, babe – another immigrant no Dad kid for the rest of us to support.

  66. Sorry to read that Araminta….me too, had my jab 2020, never really recovered from it. Wish you well, Kate x

  67. Starmer: "Tell me, Sir Humphrey, how many voters are there in fishing constituencies?"
    Sir H: "Not many, Prime Minister – certainly not enough to affect any of your party's MPs"
    Starmer: "And slammer votes?"
    Sir H: "Many millions – and thousands more arriving every week."

  68. from the Telegraph

    Keir Starmer has re-opened the wounds of Brexit
    French trawlers are to be given unlimited access to British waters once again

    Tom Harris19 May 2025 9:49am BST
    One of the defining moments of the EU referendum, which occurred in the closing days of the campaign, was when pop star Bob Geldof was seen goading fishermen who had arrived on the Thames to demand a Leave vote in order to protect their industry.

    The sight of a very wealthy Remain-supporting celebrity mocking working people for their entirely legitimate concerns about the future of their livelihoods did not go down well with the voters, as was demonstrated a week later when the results came through.

    And now, displaying his acute political skills for which he is rightly famed, Keir Starmer has reopened the whole issue of fishing in his much-anticipated “reset” of relations with the EU. French trawlers are to be given unlimited access to British waters once again, not for the next year, but for the next 12. That other pariah of Europe, Norway, which remains outside the EU but is part of the single market, gets to negotiate foreign fleets’ access to its waters every single year. But Britain will have to deal with Starmer’s new deal for more than a decade before the deal comes up for another renegotiation.

    To most people, none of this really matters. Despite the short-term outrage at Geldof’s politically disastrous intervention in 2016, fishing rights don’t occupy much head room for UK voters, so long as sufficient fish are available on supermarket shelves. And it appears that such apathy is well represented among our political leaders. For what is the UK to get in return for our beleaguered fishing communities? Quicker progress through passport control when you pop over to mainland Europe, apparently. Complaints from fishing organisations about Boris Johnson’s trade deal back in 2020 centred on a reduction of access to EU markets for UK fish; none of that seems to have been addressed by this deal.

    Instead, the priorities of the people to whom Starmer listens most will be addressed: Remainers who constantly complain of young people’s futures being “stolen” by the end of freedom of movement will be somewhat placated if this reset results in Britain rejoining the Erasmus scheme for international students. And, of course, nothing irritates them more than having to wait a bit longer at the airport when visiting Tuscany. So if those issues can be sorted, or at least improved, what does it matter that a few thousand people living along the coast and who we never encounter at our local Waitrose anyway get the sharp end of the stick?

    The wider problem for Starmer isn’t just that his reset threatens to reopen a national debate that was endlessly toxic and divisive, but one in which he personally helped make it even more so. A man who is already struggling to convince voters that he has hard and unshakeable principles, even if he can’t quite identify them at the moment, should not want to remind those same voters, however they voted in the referendum, of his cynical manoeuvrings at the time.

    This is a man who, in direct disobedience to his then friend and leader, Jeremy Corbyn, promised Labour conference that he would ensure a rerun referendum giving the country a chance to overturn Brexit before it was finalised. My, how the conference hall cheered their saviour. Starmer had, in one fell swoop, guaranteed that he would succeed Corbyn as leader as soon as the next electoral calamity was out of the way.

    This was after Starmer’s party had repeatedly promised to honour the result of the referendum, whether Remain or Leave triumphed.

    And here we are, back talking about issues we had all hoped had been put to bed. The scars on a country from the unnecessary divisions of Brexit have only just begun to heal and now they are re-opening – and just at the time when Nigel Farage’s new party is running amok through council chambers and opinion polls.

    Great timing, Keir. No, really. Well done. What could possibly go wrong?

    1. I don't hold much store by Farage & whatever party he's in now, but I would love it if he were to wipe out the Labour Party as revenge for this undemocratic betrayal.

    2. "…Britain will have to deal with Starmer’s new deal for more than a decade before the deal comes up for another renegotiation."

      Balls, Mr H. A new government with a spine will renegotiate as soon as possible – and not just fishing, but everything.

      1. If 2TFG Starmer can just ignore Brexit then any new government can sweep aside this betrayal of the plebiscite as it was anti democratic and against the will,of the people. Let the EU run around in circles because they haven’t got their own way to milk us dry.

          2. They all seem to be in the same mould slime. Do their thing, and screw the Demos.

      3. Stuff renegotiation, just say NO. If France refuses to let us have gas or whatever they do, we should have enough of our own. If it doesn't buy goods from us, don't buy from them. If we have to pay £millions for them to stop the boats (which they don't anyway), turn the boats back and tell the French to FOAD. The EU too, if they back the French. Tough action is the only thing those cretins this country and its allies saved in two World Wars. F 'em.

    3. "…Britain will have to deal with Starmer’s new deal for more than a decade before the deal comes up for another renegotiation."

      Balls, Mr H. A new government with a spine will renegotiate as soon as possible – and not just fishing, but everything.

  69. From Coffee House the Spectator

    As I was passing through Stockholm’s Arlanda airport last week, a WhatsApp from a colleague pinged into my phone as I came through arrivals, so I’m able, as it happens, to quote verbatim my thoughts at the time: ‘Just in the arrivals hall now, and as I queue in “all other passports”, I am once again reminded of what a stupid [expletive deleted] idea Brexit was.’ I may, indeed, to my shame, have added some unflattering reflections on the policy of the magazine I have the honour to work for.

    For most people, it’s only in that passport queue that they will think about Brexit much at all

    It strikes me that my experience in that passport queue, and the experience of many like me, was one of the last real Brexit noticeables. For as time goes on, the effects of Brexit – both positive and negative – become less and less visible to most of us. Sure, we can argue until we’re blue in the passport about whether we are significantly poorer than we would have been had we stayed in the EU, or whether we have, conversely, been showered with ‘Brexit dividends’. Nobody who takes either position will be remotely persuaded by the arguments of those who take the other, and most people of sound mind won’t take much of a position at all. The jam has been stirred through the semolina. Economics is a fuzzy discipline at the best of times, and economic counterfactuals are fuzzier still. The moment someone pulls out a slide deck of pie charts and starts burbling on about rates of change in GDP and hypothecated tax spending, all normal people glaze over and turn their attention to Gardeners’ Question Time.

    Most popular
    Neil Clark
    Democracy dies in Romania
    Democracy dies in Romania
    Stephen Pollard
    Bridget Phillipson is destroying Britain’s education system
    Alex Klaushofer
    Sainsbury’s self-checkout surveillance has gone too far
    Tangible benefits and harms – the ones you feel in the heart and gut if they are symbolic ones, or in the pocket if they are material ones – are what move elections. And much as the likes of me will regret it, the further that 2016’s climacteric recedes into the past, the thinner and less persuasive arguments about Brexit’s economic harms become – and as Project Fear’s defeat by Project Take Back Control showed, they weren’t all that persuasive at the time.

    Shoulda beens, mighta beens: all in the past. There is no control experiment. We are where we are. The shuttered fishmonger reopens as a bakery or a Ladbroke’s. Steve Bray eventually gets tired of shouting, or the batteries in his megaphone run out, and peace descends again on Parliament Square. Inertia favours the status quo.

    There’s the odd patriot who, no doubt, rubs the cover of his blue passport with a proud thumb and feels a swelling of pleasure in the knowledge that Brexit gave him that passport. Such a person will no doubt stand waiting for a stamp for 45 minutes in ‘All Other Passports’ with bulldog stoicism while Johnny Foreigner whizzes through the e-passport gates smugly. He will account his wait as a price amply worth paying for the privilege of Taking Back Control.

    But for most people, I suspect, it’s only in that passport queue that they will think about Brexit much at all. It will indeed be their once or twice a year chance to be once again reminded of what a stupid [expletive deleted] idea Brexit was. This is not insignificant. I’ve long thought that perhaps the most profound and enduring effect of the 11 September attacks in New York in 2001 was the tightening of airport security.

    How many trillions of hours of wasted time, how many human lifetimes, cumulatively, has the post-9/11 regime in almost every airport cost the western world? In lost time, in discontent and annoyance, in hours of productive work forgone in airport queues? Those billions of boots wearily unlaced and shucked, those laptops removed from hand luggage, those bottles of cosmetics sealed in transparent bags, those belts rolled and placed in jacket pockets. One doesn’t like to say ‘the terrorists have won’ but in this respect, they undoubtedly did. The response to their barbarism continues to affect millions of people every single day, a quarter century after a handful of jihadi nutbags flew those planes into those buildings in New York.

    So if Sir Keir Starmer’s new deal with the EU does, as has been trailed, contain a provision that Britons will be able to use the e-passport gates in European airports like everybody else, that’s a huge thing. (Leave aside for the moment the question of why, if the technology has always been completely compatible anyway, EU countries were sending us to have our documents manually stamped in ‘all other passports’ anyway. Post-Brexit spite?)

    We can argue back and forth over whether, for instance, alignment on EU trade standards is a Sickening Betrayal of Brexit (the inevitable Tory position) or a Thrillingly Independent Sovereign Decision to do exactly what the EU would have us do anyway (the already stated Labour position). But what most people will notice, or now cease to notice, is the length of the queue in the arrivals hall as they set off on their holidays. If they’re not noticing that – if they’re not getting a once- or twice-annual tangible, material reminder of what a stupid [expletive deleted] idea Brexit was – they will tend to forget that Brexit happened at all.

    In this respect, far from betraying Brexit with his trade deal, Sir Keir may indeed for a generation, woe though it causes me to say so, be putting the last nail in the coffin of Rejoin.

    Sam Leith
    WRITTEN BY
    Sam Leith
    Sam Leith is literary editor of The Spectator.

    1. So, the passport queue is the important bit of Brexit, then, not that a democratic vote for Leave has been dishonoured? What about the next time, when the woke vote for a billion genders, and the government says "No. Fcuk right off, get in a car, and fcuk off some more"? Will they say, "Oh, all right, then. Stuff democracy"? Once the principle is set, it's set, and government can do what it likes without needing any kind of mandate.
      That's the bit that gets me going. Not stupid shit like passport queues, nor the colour of my passport.

      1. Unfortunately the stupid shit is the people who keep on voting for the uniparty – especially Labour recently, thinking (I'm not sure that some of them are capable of that mental exercise) that somehow the people they vote in are on their side.

    2. That’ll on a par with not wanting to be independent because you might have to pay roaming charges. We haven’t had Brexit in any meaningful form. We have deliberately been saddled with the worst of all worlds, the benefits have been negated and the EU has unnecessarily sought to punish us for the temerity of wanting to leave.

      1. He seems to have forgotten that the blue passport is produced in France. So no Brexiteer is going to be looking at it lovingly. His piece is childish and just shows what a simplistic tw@ he is.

      2. He is an OE nephew of Prue Leith and has always been a tw@t. Pru's son Danny Kruger also went to Eton, used to be Boris's speech writer, and is the excellent non-tw@t local MP.

  70. Leaked: Starmer’s Brexit reset deal in full
    Prime Minister has signed up to a number of agreements with the EU
     https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/05/19/starmers-brexit-reset-deal-read-the-full-text/

    Could this – indeed should this – lead to revolt, rebellion and the overthrow of the government?

    I think many of us were wrong in thinking that Starmer would weakly give way to the EU. He did not give in to them at all he probably was the centre of the group drawing up the list of things which would do the most to destroy the UK.

    Starmer clearly loathes with Britain and the British with a fanatical passion.

    1. Surely this should be debated and voted on parliament. That way if and and when we have a new government we will have a list of all the traitors who sold us down the river. Prosecute them en masse.

      1. I suspect it, whatever "it" turns out to be, will have been agreed in cabinet.
        Parliament probably won't even be allowed to debate it.

        1. It probably wouldn't make any difference. The Labour rubbish in parliament would vote for it the way they voted for cutting back pensioners' winter fuel allowance. Despicable people.

      2. 405748+ up ticks,

        Afternoon AtG,

        Agreed, how about though if we, via poetic justice got some value from the energy prices and instead of prosecuting them en masse ,ELECTRECUTING them en masse.

    2. We the people need to take to the streets. But we won’t.

  71. Afternoon all. Just back from a funeral and a wake. A chance to catch up with old friends. One of the congregation was pretty scathing about the government (he remembered the seventies), EVs and Starmer’s efforts to sneak us back into the EU by stealth. There are people out there who are aware.

    Starmer hates democracy and this country. The EU is his wet dream; undemocratic, authoritarian, controlling and bureaucratic.

    1. “Starmer’s efforts to sneak us back into the EU by stealth”. It’s all in the open now, o stealth involved at all.

    2. I could cope with the power cuts of the 70s because I was at home with mum and dad, had good health and few responsibilities. Our lives were constrained by common decency and Christian morality but that's an easy yoke to bear.

      1. In the early 70s I was married and had a young child. We coped with the power cuts because we were young. We amused ourselves making shadows on the wall, drinking gin or wine and sitting them out.

      2. It was the chaos of the '70's. with Heath, Wilson and Callaghan, a decade where the country was effectively being run by the TUC that made us jump at the chance of a company transfer to HQ in the US in 1979.

    3. A bit like Blair – hoping he would become president of the EU Commission. Instead a drunkard Luxembourger and a failed German politician did.

      1. All these remainiacs fail to grasp that it’s a club for continentals; all we are good for in their eyes is bankrolling their junkets.

        1. Yes, they won’t be thanked by the EU for their treason. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

    4. A bit like Blair – hoping he would become president of the EU Commission. Instead a drunkard Luxembourger and a failed German politician did.

  72. 405748+ up ticks,

    Live Britain ‘back on the world stage’, claims Starmer
    (THE TOOL)

    Sweeping it in a very, very menial manner claims OGGA1

    The only stage the TOOL and kit should rightfully appear on for one appearence only, includes trapdoors & ropes.

  73. Remainer Labour MPs Declare Starmer Surrender Deal Only a “First Step”

    The Labour Movement for Europe of MPs, chaired by Stella Creasy, is celebrating the deal today. In an email to supporters Creasy asks for donations to “help us keep fighting to reset our relationship with Europe”…

    Tellingly the movement declares: “this deal is a first step, but it is the beginning – not the end – of the fight for a better relationship and a better future standing together with Europe.” The vague agreements leave room for many more giveaways…

    In the meantime supporters are instructed to propagandise: “we need you to speak up for this deal – to your friends, on social media, and to your MP.” Some other Labour MPs in leave-voting areas are well aware of how the sellout will go down with their constituents…

    Read the full email below:

    “Dear X,

    Talks went to the wire last night, but today the government has secured a new deal with the EU. Will you help us keep fighting to reset our relationship with Europe?

    Those responsible for Tory hard Brexit continue to try to drag this country backwards – in fact, they were opposing this deal in Parliament last week before it was even signed. The summit outcomes have just been released – here’s what you need to know:

    Standing together on security: The UK and EU have signed a formal Security and Defence Partnership. This will let us work more closely together to tackle common threats and especially on Europe’s response to Putin’s aggression. Crucially, this agreement is necessary for the UK to participate in the EU’s new €150bn defence fund. The UK and EU will also open a new dialogue on coordinating foreign aid.

    Cutting red tape: The UK and EU have agreed to work towards establishing a so-called SPS agreement on food safety and animal and plant health. This should remove the need for border checks, extra paperwork and costs on businesses importing and exporting food, drink, plant and animal products. The UK will align with EU rules on food and drink but have a role in shaping them, and will have access to relevant EU databases. An SPS deal will also come as a boost to the fishing industry, which has faced huge burdens of post-Brexit paperwork. The UK exports approximately 80% of its fishing catches, of which 70% by value goes to the EU. According to the UK in a Changing Europe, UK fishing exports to the EU fell 29% by volume from 2019-23.

    Unlocking energy cooperation: The UK and EU have agreed to work towards linking their carbon emission trading schemes, meaning that up to £800m in charges should now be paid to HM Treasury rather than to the EU. Again the UK will align to EU regulations but have a role in shaping them. They will also explore ways for the UK to participate in the EU internal electricity market, allowing more efficient electricity trading to enable the green energy potential of the North Sea to be unlocked.

    Boosting mobility: The UK and EU have agreed to work towards a youth experience scheme to allow young people to move abroad for work and study – this will be time-limited and restricted to numbers that both sides find acceptable, so it is not a return to freedom of movement. They have also agreed to work towards making it possible for UK travelers to use EU e-gates, and to support touring and cultural exchange.

    Keeping talks open: The UK have EU have agreed to keep talking on other measures to remove trade barriers, as well as holding regular high level summits.

    Now more than ever, we need your help. This deal is a first step, but it is the beginning – not the end – of the fight for a better relationship and a better future standing together with Europe.

    Here’s what our Honorary President, the Rt Hon Neil Kinnock, has said:

    Our Government and the EU have negotiated steps of realism that can become significant strides of progress in the national and mutual interest.

    This is the path to freer trade, higher growth and greater security for the UK in a world made more fragile by Putin and Trump.

    There will be much more to do in the coming days and weeks, but today we need you to speak up for this deal – to your friends, on social media, and to your MP. Follow the Labour Movement for Europe on X/Twitter, Bluesky and Instagram, where we will be sharing content to help you make the case.

    And please ask your MP to speak up in the debate in the House of Commons this Thursday, 22 May. This will be Parliament’s first opportunity for detailed scrutiny of the outcomes of this crucial summit.

    We rely on your donations to continue its work to campaign within the Labour Movement for a better relationship with Europe. In the coming months, your support will allow us to make sure the agreements promised in today’s summit become reality, and that we can carry on repairing the damage cause [They didn’t bother finishing their sentence]

    Thank you for your support for this work and for the Labour Movement for Europe,

    Stella Creasy MP”

    ******************************

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/149d9962bfd7b112f6a1126a862002575d7bc9ae5c36f95d77930c75eb37b609.jpg

    1. Just seen Stella Creasey on Politics Live! What a thick-headed cloth-eared bitch she is! She argued that it was a great deal for British fishermen, against a clearly stunned fishermen’s representative! It was unbelievable hubris and downright lies!

  74. Starmer binds future governments to EU fishing deal

    Move allows Brussels to introduce tariffs on British exports if European access to UK coastal waters is restricted before June 30 2038

    Joe Barnes Brussels Correspondent.
    James Crisp.
    Tony Diver

    19 May 2025 12:41pm BST

    Sir Keir Starmer has effectively bound future governments to his 12-year fishing rights deal with Brussels, The Telegraph can disclose.

    A future British government would technically be able to rip up the terms of the deal, which has been described as a surrender by Labour’s political opponents including Nigel Farage. However, any such move would allow the EU to respond with huge trade tariffs.

    In a move described as the “Reform clause”, UK and EU negotiators agreed to reopen the post-Brexit Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) to include the dates of the new arrangements.

    It would allow Brussels to introduce punitive measures on British exports if European fishermen access to the UK’s coastal waters is restricted before June 30 2038.

    Confirming the move, an EU diplomat said: “A procedure will be started to include the new fisheries arrangements in the TCA.”

    Both sides agreed to the plan in the wake of Reform UK topping the polls at the local elections earlier this month.

    Nigel Farage, the Reform leader, has claimed he would rip up the deal negotiated by Sir Keir if he became prime minister at the 2029 general election.

    He told The Telegraph the agreement would be “the end of the industry with no new investment”, and described Britain as “an island without a fishing industry”.

    Sir Keir’s new fishing deal has been called an insult to Britain’s coastal communities, which were promised that Labour would take back control of UK waters from Brussels as part of Brexit.

    The Prime Minister had the opportunity to insist on annual negotiations over access to UK waters, but opted to agree to 12 years of guaranteed access as part of his Brexit reset.

    Prior to that, Boris Johnson, the former prime minister, had agreed five years of access with Brussels, due to expire in June next year. Afterwards, he had intended to hold annual talks with Brussels on fishing rights to deliver his “take back control” pledge, made ahead of the 2016 EU referendum.

    Now British and European negotiators have reached a “fish for food” deal granting EU fishermen rights until 2038 in return for an agreement to boost trade. Downing Street said the agreement would add £9 billion to the economy by 2040 by linking the UK more closely to the EU’s food, veterinary and energy markets.

    Sir Keir said it would allow the UK to “move on from the stale old debates and political fights to find common sense, practical solutions, which get the best for the British people”, adding: “We’re ready to work with partners if it means we can improve people’s lives here at home.”

    Nick Thomas-Symonds, the lead Government negotiator, said the agreement marked a “day of delivery” and was “the opening of a new chapter in our relationship with the EU”.

    The two sides have also struck deals on a defence pact and youth mobility, while Britain has agreed to align with EU plant and animal health laws and to be subject to European Court of Justice decisions over them. In a win for British travellers, the EU will also allow UK passport-holders to use e-gates at European airports, which will ease queues.

    The Telegraph has obtained a leaked copy of the full deal between the EU and Britain. The agreement, struck in the early hours of Monday, will be signed off by the ambassadors of the bloc’s 27 member states in Brussels before a UK-EU summit in London.

    Fishing has become a totemic issue between Britain and the EU since the 2016 referendum. Prior to Brexit, the Commons Fisheries Policy gave European fishing vessels access to UK waters more than 12 nautical miles from the coast.

    Mr Johnson’s Brexit deal reduced the annual quota that could be caught by EU fishermen by 25 per cent, but set a cut-off date for that arrangement in 2026. Sir Keir has now agreed to extend the quota of 75 per cent of pre-Brexit fishing rights until 2038 in an unprecedented concession to the EU.

    “We note the political agreements leading to full reciprocal access to waters to fish until 30 June 2038 and extending energy cooperation on a continuous basis,” the leaked version of the deal says.

    In return, the EU has agreed that the Swiss-style agreement that Britain requested on food and veterinary standards will not be time-limited.

    It means the UK will be subject to “dynamic alignment” with EU standards on food, which will ease customs checks. Ministers also argue that the deal will bring down the price of food and increase British exports to the European continent.

    However, it also means the UK has agreed to become an EU “rule-taker” in a significant reversal of the Brexit process, which removed the role of Brussels in setting food standards and extracted the UK from the jurisdiction of the ECJ.

    Sir Keir’s team asked that the arrangement on food and veterinary standards is not time-limited, meaning Britain will not be required to renegotiate market access in future. But EU negotiators said that, in order to secure an unlimited time period on food, the UK should extend the length of the fishing rights deal from four years to 12 years.

    Labour’s decision to concede that point was met with fury on Monday amid claims it will kill off the economy of coastal communities.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5bda41b3965f4def4d6bf6241881e169db38fd2b3d394197e578a8e607fe26bd.png

    The veterinary deal will make it easier to export British fish to the EU, its major market, and the UK’s fishing industry exports most of what it catches. Although fishing represents a tiny proportion of the UK economy, a concession over rights to British waters presents a political challenge to the Government.

    Some of the fishing towns most affected by the deal are also marginal constituencies between Labour and Reform. Last year, Mr Farage’s party finished second in Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes, and won the mayoralty of Greater Lincolnshire earlier this month.

    Victoria Atkins, the shadow environment secretary, said the deal was “far worse than we anticipated” and argued that “Labour have taken the view that our UK fishing industry can be sacrificed”.

    Monday’s deal is expected to include a range of new partnerships with the EU. It will include a new defence and security pact under which Britain and the bloc will cooperate to rearm against Russia, in the wake of the US’s plans to withdraw forces from Europe.

    A defence deal will mean British firms can win contracts from the European Commission’s new €150 billion (£126 billion) Security Action For Europe (Safe) fund, which will be used to bolster the military strength of member states.

    Sir Keir and Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, will also announce plans for a youth mobility scheme to allow under-30s to travel between the UK and EU for work and study more easily.

    The final arrangements have not yet been negotiated, but ministers insist it will be capped and time-limited, and will not see Britain return to free movement with the EU. However, that plan has already been met with backlash from some Labour MPs, who say it will undermine Sir Keir’s pledge to “significantly” reduce net migration.

    No10 referred to the future agreement as a “youth experience scheme” and said “the Prime Minister is clear that bringing down migration remains an absolute priority for him”.

    Other elements of the deal include a promise to align carbon trading and electricity markets, cooperation between anti-drug agencies. There is also further law enforcement collaboration on fingerprint databases, which will give British investigators access to non-EU biometric data held by the bloc.

    ************************************

    lesley mills
    2 hrs ago
    So if a democratic vote can be ignored, can we please replace this government asap?

    JG

    J Geraghty
    2 hrs ago
    NOW do you understand why they cancelled the local elections in Reform areas ?

    1. "However, any such move would allow the EU to respond with huge trade tariffs."

      To which the UK should respond in kind. This is the second article today in which the writer is presenting the new arrangements as permanent and inviolable.

      When this is discussed in the HoC, the Labour benches will be in their element, laughing their heads off at the Tories and Reform. I hope that someone on the Opposition benches suggests that they go out into the streets and laugh in the faces of some of the 17 million Leave voters.

        1. Hi Sue, and you! A few distractions over the last couple of years but normal service is (hopefully) resumed.

      2. No. Starmer tried to give away more but Fonda Lyin' got embarrassed, blushed sweetly, and said 'no'

        1. Doesn't look like it, does it?
          And thanks, looks like there's some work to be done.

        2. Nor in the CS, Conway. All sides now. Hope you're feeling better today, notwithstanding.

          1. Yes thank you. I haven’t had much to do that required expending energy. That’s what knocks me out.

          2. Good. Rest as much as you can…even when feeling better…strangely sometimes a fizzy drink like Lucozade helps.

    3. The Latest EU Carve-up

      From the above post:
      A defence deal will mean British firms can win contracts from the European Commission’s new €150 billion (£126 billion) Security Action For Europe (Safe) fund, which will be used to bolster the military strength of member states.

      No, No, NO!
      It means British firms can winBID FOR contracts from the European Commission’s new €150 billion (£126 billion) Security Action For Europe (Safe) fund, which will be used to bolster the military strength of member states.

      Germany (and especially France) look after their own manufacturers. I believe the likelihood of UK manufacturers WINNING contracts from these two (who hold the keys to the EU purse) is, as one of our regulars says "the square root of bu88er all."

      I do sincerely hope that I am wrong. Watch this space.


      1. You're not wrong. It's been proven in the past – wasn't it Einstein who defined madness as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Your are neither wrong nor insane!

    1. The EU don't need to shaft us – our politicians are doing very well in that direction anyway.

      Moral – don't do anything for EU – don't fight for it, don't let your men die for it like we did in two WW. They aren't worth it.

  76. 405748+ up ticks,

    Dt,
    Kamal Ahmed
    The tragedy of Sir Keir? Even he doesn’t believe what he’s saying
    Our contortionist Prime Minister has only one obsession: keeping himself in Downing Street

    The tragedy of the kier TOOL is he was born on the wrong side of the English Channel if it is factual he is NOT an AI reject afterbirth.

  77. British Prime Mincer: Full name Keir Rodney Starmer. Now you know that "Only Fools and Horse" was based on a true story.

    1. Rodney in OFAH was somewhat more decent than the miserable excuse for a human being that Starmer is. The greatest pity in the last few decades is that his mother didn't have a headache…although I'm not sure what his parents were like. They didn't instil much decency in their brat.

      I understand that they were dyed-in-the-wool working Labour – of the more traditional kind. I wonder if his mother would be proud of what she has produced. Would his parents think that he is a credit to them? They way he has shafted the British working class indicates that they wouldn't.

    2. Rodney in OFAH was somewhat more decent than the miserable excuse for a human being that Starmer is. The greatest pity in the last few decades is that his mother didn't have a headache…although I'm not sure what his parents were like. They didn't instil much decency in their brat.

      I understand that they were dyed-in-the-wool working Labour – of the more traditional kind. I wonder if his mother would be proud of what she has produced. Would his parents think that he is a credit to them? They way he has shafted the British working class indicates that they wouldn't.

    3. I was watching a you tube video, and the lips were out of sync with the audio… I swear I heard the words Queer Starmer…..but then I am losing middle range hearing in both ears…..

      1. I put my hearing aids in for the funeral. Even so, the vicar mumbled into the lectern and I missed most of it. I felt like shouting “speak up!” Being English and a church goer, of. course, I just muttered under my breath.

  79. I can't help thinking that the fishing is a relatively minor part of the destruction Starmer has started, it's a distraction. All the attention appears to be on fishing
    Very tough on the fishing industry, but although the time of access appears to have been changed, I can't see that very much else has from what we have now.
    https://ukandeu.ac.uk/explainers/explainer-fisheries/

    What are they hiding?

        1. Some of them personally might do quite well – Ted Heath’s boats (plural – Morning Cloud wasn’t the only one – were not paid for on a PM’s salary.

    2. Exactly so. Starmer doesn't give a flying one, he has his next job lined up in Brussels, won't need to win another election. Likely all a stitch up with the CS, seemed they blocked Brexit every turn.

    3. You've put your finger on it Sos. I understand that our armed forces will come under the control of the EU – including sending them to war – and also our arms manufacturers.

      If it's true, we're definitely not a sovereign country.

  80. Starmer’s EU Sellout Deal On Carbon Pricing To Hike Electricity Bills ‘By £200 Million Per Year’

    While there is panic over the fishing rights surrender the EU-UK deal features significant alignment on carbon pricing. The key points as agreed by Starmer and the EU are:

    UK Emission Trading Scheme (UK ETS) and the European Union Emission Trading System (EU ETS) to be linked.
    Scope includes “electricity generation, industrial heat generation (excluding the individual heating of houses), industry, domestic and international maritime transport and domestic and international aviation.” Should provide for a “procedure to further expand the list of sectors to be covered by the linking agreement”…
    The UK’s cap and reduction pathway “should be at least as ambitious as the European Union cap and the European Union reduction pathway.“
    UK will pay the EU “to support the relevant costs associated with the European Union’s work in this policy area.“
    Arbitration: “the Court of Justice of the European Union is the ultimate authority for all questions of European Union law.“
    The UK gets to “contribute appropriately for a country that is not a member of the European Union to the decision-shaping process of European Union legal acts in the fields covered by the obligation to dynamically align… These rights would not extend to participation in the work of the Council or its preparatory bodies.” The UK will be ignored…
    Guido spoke to independent energy consultant Kathryn Porter who sounded the alarm over higher prices:

    “Since Keir Starmer announced his intention to harmonise the UK and EU ETS, UK carbon prices have increased significantly. Full harmonisation could end up adding more than £200 million per year to electricity bills.

    UK carbon prices have been lower as a result of a surplus of allowances due to de-industrialisation. It’s hard to see how we will benefit from harmonisation. The “level playing field” sounds like a mechanism to remove the UK allowances surplus with no benefits to UK consumers.“

    Within the EU prices are currently roughly £10/ptCO2 higher than here. ‘Savings’ spin from Starmer and the EU is centred on the introduction of the bloc’s carbon border tariffs next year. In essence energy costs are being immediately hiked for the UK in return for a future tariff reduction – even on those who don’t export to the EU – while the UK also agrees to take EU rules, ECJ jurisdiction, and pay the EU for the pleasure. The EU will further decide who in the UK is exempt from its hiked carbon pricing. Got all that?

    The Institute of Economic Affairs’ energy analyst Andy Mayer adds: “The smarter strategy would be to retain control of our own carbon policy, and cut it drastically to compete with the EU, encouraging jobs and growth, including in low carbon technologies also impacted by high energy prices.” Not one for the Labour Rejoin cabal…

    May 19 2025 @ 14:16

    ********************************

    Chas
    41m
    It is high time Starmer was prosecuted under the Treason Act of 1351.

    Ivor MacAdam
    Chas
    33m
    To include the original penalty.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6f788d4d5bcda3d3f2425c3420ee7c4a20a13327e963ccca73301e7bbc88687f.png
    The Barbarian
    41m
    Yet another advantage over the EU simply given away. No wonder the EU spotted it and wanted it gone…
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/60c4f4002a0e8d0f533482186a76b4829dcf92a214a33d41d0bf2c1b80352a14.png

  81. I know it is a trivial thing, but I simply hate seeing British politicians (of whatever hue) kissing the female eurocrats. It suggests a degree of palliness that should not be present during serious "negotiations" (I know, I know).

    4. And talking of the UK getting stuffed – do Ukrainian rent boys give a better service than those in other EU countries?

      1. "…and it's looking a bit green. Whatever have you and Edmilliwat been doing with it?"

    10. "Psst. A third young man has come out of the woodwork. Shall I settle the bill and charge it to the British taxpayer?"

    12. "Do nicht vurry about your failed amorous intentions zweiTK – zere are plenty more fish in die Nordsee!"

  83. Katharine Birbalsingh
    Bridget Phillipson’s education bill is an abuse of state power

    Trust parents and teachers over the ideological meddling of the Labour party

    19 May 2025 11:37am BST

    Yesterday’s March for Children was a striking reflection of what Britain ought to be – a nation where disparate voices unite to defend fundamental freedoms. From home educators and school leaders to Orthodox Jews and black Britons, we came together to oppose the Wellbeing and Schools Bill. It was an extraordinary display of shared conviction: that the state is overreaching, and that parents and school leaders alike must draw a line.

    The Bill claims to improve wellbeing and raise standards. In practice, it does the opposite. It erodes autonomy, lowers standards, and imposes yet another layer of bureaucracy on already overstretched schools and families. Home educators are rightly alarmed. Their concern is not born of paranoia but of lived experience – they know how indifferent the state can be to the unique needs of individual children.

    As Headmistress of Michaela, I stand with them. Our freedoms are also under threat – particularly the proposed restriction on employing teachers who do not hold Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). The assumption that a certificate guarantees competence is simply untrue. Anyone who has worked in schools knows this.

    Consider the private sector. Independent schools have long had the freedom to employ unqualified teachers. Have their pupils failed to achieve top grades or win places at leading universities? Of course not. No one questions whether parents paying tens of thousands of pounds a year are receiving a substandard education. So why should state school families be denied the same flexibility?

    It’s tempting to believe QTS represents a gold standard. It doesn’t. There are myriad routes into teaching – some paid, some unpaid; some university-based, others entirely in-school. All depend on in-classroom mentorship. Any new teacher, whether or not he is pursuing QTS, must learn to plan lessons, mark work, complete safeguarding training and support neurodiverse pupils. A mentor is there to guide them either way.

    The truth is that the certificate does not make someone a better teacher – as private schools well understand. QTS requires reams of paperwork from both mentor and trainee. Much of it serves bureaucratic benchmarks rather than educational ones. Hours that could be spent helping children are instead lost to form-filling and box-ticking. For many talented would-be teachers, it is a powerful deterrent.

    At Michaela, we currently have around 50 teachers. Two do not hold QTS. One, a former soldier, is a trusted Head of Year 11, leading a full cohort towards their GCSEs. The other, an outstanding Economics graduate from the LSE, was bound for the City but chose the classroom instead. Had we insisted on the bureaucratic hurdles of QTS, he simply wouldn’t be teaching. And does Bridget Phillipson – or anyone in Whitehall – understand just how hard it is to find a good Economics teacher?

    The Bill also places extraordinary pressure on home educators, potentially criminalising parents for failing to meet arcane new requirements. Under these proposals, those who educate their own children could face up to a year in prison if they fall foul of the new rules. This is not sensible safeguarding. It is an abuse of state power.

    And at the same time, the Bill eliminates a key recruitment pipeline for schools – the ability to hire high-calibre, non-certified teachers. With shortages already critical, heads will be forced to rely on supply staff – who, especially in shortage subjects, may not even exist. And by nature, supply teachers cannot provide the consistency and continuity that children need to thrive.

    This Bill burns the candle at both ends. It penalises committed parents and closes the door on promising teachers. Yesterday’s march reminded me how extraordinary parents can be when they are given a voice. We were united in our message: trust parents, trust headteachers – and for heaven’s sake, scrap this Bill.

    1. My "lived experience" is of being taught in a Secondary Modern by teachers who'd gone straight from O Levels to Teacher Training College and in a Grammar School by people with degrees who were clever but not necessarily good teachers. I assume that QTS is about unleashing ignorant brainwashed automata to feed an approved agenda to gullible children?

      2. I have never found anything to do with maths and figures easy.
        That talent is just not there.
        However, the only teacher under whom I actually achieved a reasonable level of numeracy was an old arithmetic teacher who had trained under the pupil teacher system. She had EXPERIENCE, not a load of letters after her name.

      3. It would be easier to make education on line rather than teacher led. Just imagine controlling the preparation of coursework by a national body and how everyone will get the same message at the same time

    1. Fun fact: The least popular public speakers use around 272 hand gestures during a ten minute talk. 2TK bang on the money again with 271 at EU summit. Bonus points too for consistent irritating nasal whine during surrender declaration.

      1. And another reference to "working people" yet six months ago, he was struggling to give a precise definition of who "working people" were.

          3. He's definitely malevolent but he's also thick. He's driven by dogma, seldom spotting the side effects and unintended consequences.

          4. A lesson on how empires fall. Perhaps he doesn't care and is just enjoying the ride.

          5. He’s not stupid, I agree, I think he knows he will be hung , drawn and quartered, but he is prepared to be martyred. I just hope he will suffer.

  87. The good news is that there will be shorter queues at airports under the Starmer deal.
    The bad news is nobody will be able to afford to fly

    1. I doubt that queues will actually be shorter, no matter how much two tier has given away.

  88. I can make a clear guarantee that Reform UK would repeal this surrender deal if we win the next General Election.
    Nigel Farage.

    Not a sqeak from the wet Tories.

  90. Says it all, really. They'd be so……….proud that's he's PM – and giving the country away to the EU.

  92. Wordle No. 1,430 4/6

    ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
    🟨⬜⬜⬜🟨
    ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    Wordle 19 May 2025

    A toss for Par Four?

    1. Unlucky – I kept my run of good fortune going with my first birdie for a bit!

      Wordle 1,430 3/6

      🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜
      ⬜🟨🟨⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      1. Well done.
        Wordle 1,430 4/6

        ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
        🟨🟨⬜🟨⬜
        🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜
        🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    2. Five for me. Guess two was just to ascertain whether the one remaining vowel and two consonants that sometimes behave as vowels might be featured.

      Wordle 1,430 5/6

      ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
      ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
      🟨🟩⬜⬜⬜
      ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    3. Not the best of days but bogey

      Wordle 1,430 5/6

      ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
      🟩⬜⬜🟨⬜
      🟩⬜🟨🟩⬜
      🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    4. Birdie today.

      Wordle 1,430 3/6

      ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
      🟨⬜⬜⬜🟨
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  93. I'm getting fed up with Starmer's surrender to the EU benefitting UK travellers at airports by letting them use e-gates for passport checks. It already happens!
    In 2022 and 2023, I used the e-gates at Schiphol airport four times. The only difference was when the gates scanned a Non EU passport, the police officer in the booth called you over and stamped your passport – maybe an extra 20 seconds. I've also used the Eurostar four times since Brexit and the extra stamp from the French (Outward) and the UK Border force (Inward) takes seconds, hardly an inconvenience.

  94. I'm getting fed up with Starmer's surrender to the EU benefitting UK travellers at airports by letting them use e-gates for passport checks. It already happens!
    In 2022 and 2030, I used the e-gates at Schiphol airport four times. The only difference was when the gates scanned a Non EU passport, the police officer in the booth called you over and stamped your passport – maybe an extra 20 seconds. I've also used the Eurostar four times since Brexit and the extra stamp from the French (Outward) and the UK Border force (Inward) takes seconds, hardly an inconvenience.

  95. 405748+up ticks,

    He strongly implies and witnessed via his thought process that the eu hierarchy are very generous to those they rate as a submissive obedient peoples,as in the english species.

    Dt,

    Keir Starmer
    @Keir_Starmer
    ·
    Follow
    For years, your weekly shop has gone up.
    Our deal with the EU will mean lower food prices at the checkout.
    Putting more money in your pocket.

    1. 405748+ up ticks,

      O2O,
      Does he mean before he deals with the farmers and desecrating the domestic food suply ?

      1. Not domestic supply, it is the impure American chicken and beef that will be dumped on you soon. As China has major tariffs / bans on anericann pork there should also be some inexpensive pork coming your way as well.

        1. No complaints here about American beef. Good corn fed Kansas steaks are unbeatable.

          2. Argentinian steaks were the best. Then they became so famous the cattle no longer roam the pampas but are reared on concrete rafts in their tens of thousands and fed dry feed.

            The run off is polluting the water table.

            Buy your beef from local small holders who husband tried and tested breeds.

            There must be some near you.

          3. I note she has just appeared and given me an up vote.
            I take it from that, that she likes them big and beefy.
            Sorry Phizzee, it appears that she prefers Stephenroi Grizzly and Geoff Graham.
            But that's totally understandable.

          4. They have all attended my party room at one time or another but i couldn't possibly say who came when.

  96. Well, that was unexpectedly interesting.
    Knowing my interest in tapestry and embroidery, Sonny Boy took me to see the Great Scottish Tapestry at Galashiels.
    I was bit neutral over the idea, but didn't fancy another potter round the tourist stricken bits of Edinburgh and I didn't want SBS to do too much driving. So I went out of curiosity and desire to keep out of the cold as much as anything.
    It was much better and far more interesting than I expected. Only the last 8 or 10 panels dealing with the C20 were worthy and a bit preachy. As there are 160 of them, I didn't think that was bad going for this most preachiest of eras in of the preachiest of countries.
    The panels were created by lots of individual little groups; some of about a dozen people, others by one or two.
    The sheer overall organisation much have been an awesome task.
    For me, a bonus was seeing a way round a needlework problem that I had abandoned at home as I could not produce the effect I wished to achieve.
    Blasted cold grey day, so home from home, really.

    1. There is place museum over in Bruges.

      You might find it interesting but after a few minutes I left the boss to it and opted out and sat outside in the rain.

      1. Lace? I went to Bruges with a friend some years back.
        She loves lace, but we never got round to visiting the museum. (I was secretly relieved about that; though possibly I might have found it more interesting than I expected.)

          1. It's good that you like museums seeing as one day you will be one of the exhibits.

  98. The Left are forever berating Thatcher for the privatisation of large parts of our industry and services, they called it selling of the family silver.
    But they are more than happy to give away our fishing waters and industry to the EU for absolutely nothing of value at all.
    How can they explain their reasoning?
    It's a good job Thatcher did have the foresight to sell them, they would be giving those away too for a handful of magic beans and a shorter queue at the airport.

  99. Still not a single word from HM Govt about 'terrorist attack'. LOL
    Three arrests. Third property attacked. Got to be Lord Ali's.
    Savile network reveals itself now & again..

        1. I don't care one bit for Gorgeous George – but I'll admit he is good at stirring.

        3. The man in question has been in the UK since he was 10 has a building company and is a model. But according to his lawyer needs an interpreter because his English is not up to much. Not much conversation needed if you're talking like a turkey.

  101. That's me for today. What sickening news that Cur Ikea Slammer has shafted yet more of the indigenous population. Why on earth don't the press "out" him?

    Busy day in t'garden. Ladder work morning and early afternoon. Then a real assault on the greenhouse. The rest of the indoor tomatoes are planted out (in?) All the remaining toms are re-potted and under cover until next week when the last tomato bed will have to be planted.

    In the sun it was very agreeable; out of it – still a bitter north wind. No sign of any rain – hence heavy watering (with deuterium – chemistry joke from 1958).

    Now completely knackered – even though the MR did more than her fair share, bless her. 18 minutes to a rewarding glass of vino.

    Have a jolly evening.

    A demain.

          1. I am not feeling much like a hero at the moment. I am decidedly cross. I have been trying to organise a fundraiser since April, thought I had got it sorted only for the venue to renege on the price originally agreed and offer me completely different dishes from what I specified. Now I have to start again somewhere else.

          2. Did you just have a verbal agreement, Conway..good luck with replacement. Local WI can be quite good…

          3. We had agreed by email. When they finally got round to checking the email they honoured the price and after a lot of pushing came up with a satisfactory menu as well. I should have been put in charge of the leave negotiations!

          5. We’ve sorted it now, but that’s the last business they’ll get from me.

          7. Other than that they’re incompetent, you mean? They didn’t read the emails. Still I have finally got them to agree and all is well, but not before I made enquiries at another venue.

    2. We are promised real rain on Wednesday – I'm not holding my breath! Everything's drizzabone.

  102. You have got to hand it to the UK for being the dumbest country in Europe.
    Nobody so far has had their freedom and sovereignty taken away twice by the EU.

  103. You have got to hand it to the UK for being the dumbest country in Europe.
    Nobody so far has had their freedom and sovereignty taken away twice by the EU.

    1. I would say taken away. We were lied to about the common market, then we were promised that what we voted for would be implemented. Both these things were taken away from the people.

      1. Unfortunately Thatcher was rather good at that. Ideologues always make the mistake of thinking that everyone will think the same as they do and play ball.

  105. Opponents of Kur's capitulation must beware of the trap that will be set by EU supporters. Fishing is a very small part of GDP. Much will be made of this, particularly by the BBC. The fact that the ECJ is still operating in the UK, Northern Ireland is still effectively in the EU, freedom of movement is returning i.e that the EU is dictating the rules again, must be hammered home by Reform and the rump of the Tories that still believe in Brexit. They must not allow the filth to corner them on fishing. Greatly symbolic it most certainly is but it pales into insignificance compared with the rest of it, a step-by-step betrayal of the vote to leave.

    I haven't listened to any BBC news today, apart from the very briefest of headlines. I won't have any crockery left in the house if I do.

    1. The UK used to have a notion of something called fair play. I doubt if any concept like that has crossed the minds of the EU.

  106. So if the PM has caved in to the EU, does it mean that there is more to this than meets the (brass) eye?

    2. I am afraid he has NOT caved in to the EU.

      Indeed given half a chance he would have given away even more to the EU than he has done.

      I do hope he will face a court on a charge of high treason and betrayal of his country.

      1. No chance. No prosecution and even if there was, too many Blairite judges to send him down.

        1. I am watching Versailles at the moment. At least Louis thought what he was doing was for the benefit of all of France.

          Starmer cannot say the same. There will be a day of reckoning.

          1. There wasn’t for Heath, Major, Blair, Brown, Cameron, etc. etc. All that happened is that they didn’t get voted back in. Some reckoning!

        1. Where do you think I first read about them?
          "Phizzee's handy self-help guide to hands on "

      1. He's well on the way. Hopefully the next firebomb will hit him smack between the eyes.

  114. Keir Starmer on UK-EU deal: 'Britain is back on the world stage'

    "We are all the little boy saying the Emperor has got no clothes.. and Starmer is marching stark naked completely stripped off.
    Telling lie after lie after lie, which we all know are lies. People know they are being lied to. It's extraordinary they think they can go through these rituals.. like the high priests of a dying religion, or still more closely the high priests of the Soviet Union in the dying days of the Soviet State.. in which you were producing the myth that communism worked, that its lovely, that we all enjoy equality. That we are more productive than the United Sates. All lies.. lies.. lies."
    David Starkey

    1. I'd laugh a lot usually at that, it's very funny, but I find myself crying…………

  116. Ernest Nowell
    1h
    OT – June Mummery, fishing supporter, has just made the best quote of the day. – At last , Starmer has kept his promise, he has stopped the boats! The UK fishing boats!

    Richard
    1h
    OT – Fisheries were our Ace. We could have told France, Spain and rest of EU, zero fish from next year, unless ALL the small boats were stopped from right now!

    The BBC Nonce Factory. Welcome
    1h
    A vassal state is a nation that owes allegiance and support to another state, similar to a feudal vassal in medieval Europe. This relationship often involves the vassal state providing tribute, military service, or other forms of loyalty to the suzerain state. While the vassal state may retain some independence in internal affairs, its foreign policy and overall status are often dictated by the dominant state.

  117. It's an ill wind that does some good.

    A while back I reported that MoH's car was damaged by a trolley whilst parked at an IKEA. The quote for remedial bodywork repair circa £500. Last week whilst she was sitting in the car in a hospital car park, a lady driver drove into the other side of the front bumper. Bodyshop says its beyond repair so new front bumper required with labour quote is over £1600. Over to our/ their insurer's…..

    Bodyshop owner reports that the Porsche sitting awaiting repair is awaiting new parts- not a wreck by any stretch just a few panels and some trim – the bill will exceed £6,000!!

    1. Ouch. It's around 9 years since I (legally) drove. DVLA rejected my application on the basis of… Covid. Paper applications (I had to complete three paper forms re. medical stuff) were kicked into the long grass.

      Then I moved house, and GP, so the application was effectively cancelled. Since I'm now a few minutes' walk from Platforn 1 at Wanborough Station, I no longer care.

      I remain interested in cars, and YouTube's algorithm seems to recognise this. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you https://www.youtube.com/c/salvagerebuildsuk . Fascinating stuff…

    2. A few years back we ran into a big stag that decided to cross the road right in front of us. Hit the brakes hard but still clouted him broadside on. but at low speed. He ran away.

      Car was a 2017 Genesis. Included in the damage were all the electronics just behind the front facia – sensors, smart this and that, auto braking, etc., all smashed. I picked up the pieces and drove on – minus a light unit and a lot of plastic bits. All up repair cost was about $18K, inclding a new front panels, a new bonnet, and a new door where the stag had been spun around and an antler went though the (aluminium) door panel.. New front light unit alone was around $1500. A long way from the old simple (and cheap) 7" round units all cars used to have!

  118. It’s not a beef area here

    BUT further up lies Limousin and that is most certainly one!

    1. I’ve just read that! Unbelievable! Just look at the face on the male policeman – what a horror!

      1. They are simply the same kind of people as those who used to gas other people 80 years ago. Some human beings are pretty vile.

    2. Probably far enough into dementia that he could not be talked down. Many cases go through a violent phase. But one would not have thought it was beyond the capabilities of plod just to grab hold of him – at 93 he is not going to be that strong any more.

    3. Could have just chucked a blanket over his head, then disarmed him. Question I have – where did he get the knife, and how?

  120. I am probably behind several of you in just reading about the treachery of that greasy, fat , shortarse, starmer. If Labour hate this country so much why the f u. C. K don't they just piss off and leave the rest of us in peace. Sorry for the language, but I'm sure many of you feel the same, especially this government which consists of such shameless liars. Complete scum.

          1. I'm thinking of changing my name, cos I'm not smiling at the moment!!

          2. Don't
            I've always liked yours
            Spitting Cobra is more my style of moniker!!!

  122. They could just have left him there.
    Walk out of the room, and let the staff wait until he fell asleep.
    The police will deserve all they get.

        2. Nah! He has common sense! Those b*ggers wouldn’t know that if it tasered them!

          1. Ooh. You have given me an idea. Next time i am in a Turk barber shop being offered fake vapes and E-scooter chargers i might ask if they do a line in tasers.

            I'm sure their supply lines aren't interrupted by the new EU deal.

      2. The growing problem is that there are too many of these types coming through training and let loose on the public.. Nasty tweets, perceived nasty tweets, let's steam in lads heavy handed. Muslim threats of violence, incidents of violence, riots and it's a case of white flags and let's get kneeling.

        1. Now, now.
          Be fair.

          You're a fully trained rozzer, you've got all the kit.

          Stab vest, tazer, baton, chewing gum, limp wrist brace and diversification manual.
          What do you do?

          Tackle the "behead people who offend the profit" (sic) or kill an OAP?

          3-2-1

          Too slow.
          You attack the OAP and blame him.

          1. Yes, sorry Sos not thinking straight. Low hanging fruit first. But I really don't like to be fair.

          2. As I said to my children:

            I'm not fair, life's not fair.

            And who told you it would be?

      3. The growing problem is that there are too many of these types coming through training and let loose on the public.. Nasty tweets, perceived nasty tweets, let's steam in lads heavy handed. Muslim threats of violence, incidents of violence, riots and it's a case of white flags and let's get kneeling.

  123. Just last week the government was lauding the fact that we had signed up to trade deals with India and the USA, they never cost us our fishing waters and industry or left us subservient to their laws, the one with the EU does, if we now have to obey EU regulations, will we still be able to trade freely with the USA and India if their goods are not compatible with EU regs?

    2. Wil Trump withdraw the UK tariff deal as you are now tied closely with the EU?

      He is already talking about regional tariff policies instead of country specific deals, he could just well bundle you together

      1. Trump gave preferential tariff treatment to the UK for the reason that we had left the EU. Trump despised the EU for the same reason that us Brexiteers do.

        The EU Commission comprises a cabal of failed unelected politicians. The EU merely takes money from its member states, takes an enormous cut to itself, and redistributes the remainder on evil projects and actors such as Ukraine and the Zelensky creature.

        The EU is coercive and interferes in national elections as we have seen in Romania, France, Germany and Poland to name a few. Starmer is a place man for the EU and anyone who voted for Labour were warned.

      2. Trump gave preferential tariff treatment to the UK for the reason that we had left the EU. Trump despised the EU for the same reason that us Brexiteers do.

        The EU Commission comprises a cabal of failed unelected politicians. The EU merely takes money from its member states, takes an enormous cut to itself, and redistributes the remainder on evil projects and actors such as Ukraine and the Zelensky creature.

        The EU is coercive and interferes in national elections as we have seen in Romania, France, Germany and Poland to name a few. Starmer is a place man for the EU and anyone who voted for Labour were warned.

  124. 'A third man has been arrested in connection with the alleged arson attacks targeting Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister.'
    One more and they can form a Village People tribute band (and yes, I know there were 5 members of the Village People.)

        2. Wasn't T. Blair given the honorary Tribal name: 'Walking Eagle'?

          Why Walking Eagle?

          So full of shit it couldn't fly…

    1. Do you mean "mike"? Mike is short for MIKEROFONE. Mic is short for MICTURATION. GRRR

          1. FA is a talented keyboardist, Kate.

            Several months of vision problems (i.e. not being able to read music) have led to me playing hymns from memory. As long as I know what key I'm playing in, and how many verses, I'm OK.

            Wedding on Saturday: Wagner in, and Mendelssohn out. No problem. The visiting choir of thirty-odd were brilliant. The local ex High Sheriff / current DL*, beseeched the Rector that I shouldn't be allowed to play.
            The Rector is on my side. Contractually, I'm gone on 30 September.

            Apparently, the blessed DL's husband (another former High Sheriff) thinks he can organise volunteers to play – gratis -for all the services.

            This seems to include Martin – an occasional member of Seale Choir. Lovely guy, and shares with his family a volume set permaently to eleven. Martin happens to be the most senior jC judge in Wales. He's hardly likely to drop everything to play for a funeral in rural Surrey…

          2. Good to hear from you Geoff…delightful post, too. Wedding music sounds wonderful, and you’d do it credit, along with the choir. What?! why would ex HS say that…I’ll gladly have a word in his shell-like. A few months to go…will you miss it? Good luck to DL’s husband, no-one does owt for nowt nowadays, at least not often and not without end in sight. Volume set permanently to eleven….similar to younger grandchildren, love them when they visit, while they’re here…and when they go home. I suppose Martin might think about dropping everything for a visit to rural Surrey, but then again maybe not. Look after yourself, Geoff, look forward to next time. Lots of love, Kate x PS …FA obviously a man of many talents….

          7. I take my keyboard Kate – I am banned from singing in public and my jokes too rude :o))

  128. I believe that most of them weren't.
    It was a very well constructed posture, and I liked their music

    1. Only one of the originals was gay. The band suited the time.

      Interestingly the only guy attached in the film was the Olympiad who transed to Caitlyn Jenner.

      Which then spawned the Kardashians. FFS.

      1. If only all "transitioners" were like Bruce.

        I often ponder (no, not pander I leave that to you) whether if all those who did so followed his example whether we would be accepting them rather than having them thrust down our throats.

        1. There were others but Bruce made Trans real. It can be done though you can't have children unless from frozen eggs and sperm.

          What has happened now is rapists and paedophiles taking advantage of the situation.

          It became a point that Peter Tatchell had to support these blue and green haired activists to stay relevant.

          Now he has lost that battle be is protesting anti Hamas for which he has just been arrested for.

          I won't be donating.

          1. I don’t know, but I very much doubt that she/he agrees with transexual men competing against women.
            I suspect that even at his/her age it/they could still be in the top 10 in the women’s heptathlon.

          2. He doesn’t! I saw an interview with him in which he was very clear on the subject!

        2. "…thrust down our throats".

          Don't care who or what they do or look like, but having any of threm thrusting anything anywhere near me is a no no.

  131. Quote of the day

    ‘Reeled in by the EU, hook, line and sinker.’

    – Shadow chancellor Mel Stride gives his assessment of Starmer’s reset with the EU.

    1. Oh!

      For goodness sake.

      What's two and a half million, here or there?

      /sarc

    2. Bit surprised the adverse vaccine numbers aren't higher, UK Yellow Card closed down in no time – full.

    1. So the committee member with the odd hairstyle betrayed him. What a bitch.

      1. Wikipedia entry seems a bit weak, Sue..just the bare bones (yes, some women seem to like the little girl hair look, beats me.).

    1. S/He may well be.
      I have enormous respect for him.
      He decided how he would live his life, and as far as I'm aware he's never tried to force other people to accept him as he sees himself.
      And that's where he differs from so many of the attention seekers.

  135. True.
    But if left alone, and with the door locked, he’d have fallen asleep, and could have been disarmed easily.

  136. Fortunately we hadn’t gone ahead with the original remedial work required!

      1. We were allowed to sell shellfish free of tariff, but the French trawlers have already taken them, so there is nothing left to sell to them, and we have to buy ours off the French.

        We were allowed to sell sausages and bacon free of tariff, but the Danes have already scraped the sea floor of life to grind into meal to feed their pigs, which can then undercut our own pig farmers, who have to buy their feed off the Danes.

        We were allowed to sell our cars free of tariff. Any guesses who owns Rolls-Royce? Bentley? The Mini? We have to buy our cars from places where they still make them.

        We are allowed to export our graduates without a visa. Any guesses who is encouraged to settle here from France?

        Remember this was on a 20% mandate, and less popular support for his party than it had when Jeremy Corbyn was Leader and Starmer was Shadow Brexit Secretary.

        This post will now be buried in old news. It will not see the light of day again.

  138. Beautiful evening, quiet, dusk… rain and 12C lower temps in a day or so – we need the rain.

    1. 5mm of rain so far here in the first 19 days of May. There's a chance we might get a drop or two on the 21st!

    2. Thunder, lightning, rain here…luckily old dog quite deaf now doesn't like storms…

    3. Thunder, lightning, rain here…luckily old dog quite deaf now doesn't like storms…

  139. A headlamp on the small Merc cost £1300 to replace a month or two ago… :-((

  140. 3,5,7,9 on a double white line
    Motorway sign coming up with the morning light

    So that's what Tommy Robinson is doing these days……….

  142. Old Liberal /Left Remainer Proverb.
    Give a man a fish and he will eat for one day,
    Give away your fishing waters and you will go hungry and he will grow fat

      1. Confucius he say;
        Man with hole in pocket feel cocky all day long….
        However, man with two hole in pocket, no feel t(w)o cocky!

  143. I've just been watching a couple of bbc 4 programs about ww2 and Germany.
    It seems that they are at it again.
    With not so secrect agents acting on their behalf this time.👤
    Good night all Nottlers sleep well.
    😴

  144. I've just been watching a couple of bbc 4 programs about ww2 and Germany.
    It seems that they are at it again.
    With not so secrect agents acting on their behalf this time.👤
    Good night all Nottlers sleep well.
    😴

    1. Jesus H, what a complete pair of murderous assholes – what the f did they think he was going to do? – I hope they both rot in hell!!

  147. Where is wibbling? We have not heard anything since that awful bottom business. Does anyone know if he's OK?

    1. Not seen him for a few days, since you put me right about him, opo….hope he's doing OK….

    1. When you consider Hillary (one prefers not to look at her), then it's not surprising Billy's willy went awol.

    1. Obvs not you, sorry. Think I was unsure if w was male or female, was told a big burly guy. ‘Night opopanax sleep well 😴

  156. He has got to be stopped. Come Hell or high water. This is ridiculous now. He is acting as if he has inherited the UK as his personal fiefdom and can do what he likes with it. But he hasn't. He is supposed to be our servant, not our master.

  157. They wanted to stay in the EU…they can have it. Strategically is a different point, but no doubt the Yanks will manage without our territories one way or another.

    1. Yes. He should exercise whatever power he has to save his Kingdom, right now.

    2. Just as a matter of interest, Hertslass, what does the “F” stand for? Is it “fucking”?

  159. He's too weak/stupid/in with the WEF.

    Edit – the above are not alternatives.

      1. Ol' Phil realised what an *rse he had begotten. KFC is very inbred. Sadly, all the decent genes went to Anne.

  160. He's too weak/stupid/in with the WEF.

    Edit – the above are not alternatives.

  161. Very good idea, you’d have had a lot of us here supporting you. Is your flu abating…might you have pollen allergy..mine is trees I use an app Pollen Pal very useful. ‘Night Conway havea good sleep and feel better tmrw 🤞😄

      1. Good..pace yourself tho…think that’s why some think they caught another bout..

    1. A bit like a Chinese lady who my ex worked with who spoke with a very put on Hyacinth Bucket posh accent and was a pain in the neck (all other Chinese people I have met have always been really decent sorts, but not her). We used to call her the UFO. U – Useless, O = Oriental.

      My vocabulary is rather limited…

      1. Ooh, I don't think so! You're pretty ****ing good at Scrabble! 🤣🤣😉

        1. I've improved since the games with you – seeing the different strategies the way you did them, and the little book you gave us is now well-worn! We must have some returns when you are over…

      2. Ooh, I don't think so! You're pretty ****ing good at Scrabble! 🤣🤣😉

  165. Reminds me of the Robert Redgkrd film, "Our Soles At Night". Someone should have had a word to advise them to release it under a different title in the UK.

  167. Gary Lineker loses £800,000 by leaving the BBC

    Oh dear. What a pity. Never mind.

  168. I saw/met Peter Green on a bench on Richmond Hill totally out of his head. Late 80s maybe.

  169. Wel, chums, it's well past my bedtime. Good Night all. Sleep well, and I hope to see you all tomorrow.

  170. Goodnight, all. I may be incommunicado for a few days, so if I disappear, don't worry.

  171. Goodnight, all. I may be incommunicado for a few days, so if I disappear, don't worry.

  172. How to wind yourself up in the morning. Geoff from Malvern. Bet he’s on the board of the Malvern Trust.

    “SIR – With the Tories defeated and a negligible Reform UK contingent in Parliament, common sense now appears to be defeating delusion in Britain’s relationship with the EU.

    The EU is our largest trading partner: it is inevitable that we have to respect its rules. Brexit has, in fact, made us more of a rule-taker by destroying our previous role as a rule-maker.

    A return to the rule-making table will mean that we can consign the misguided Brexit debacle to history.

    Geoff Johnstone
    Malvern, Worcestershire”

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